Tainted Purity
by loveandcontroversy
Summary: It has been three years since Sozin's comet passed. The world is at a state of peace for everyone - except for Azula. She has not made any progress in her mental recovery and has been forced to remain in a cell. What happens when Azula escapes from the mental ward? What will happen when she goes after the one person who was able to take her down? Zuko/Katara Rated M just to be safe
1. Prologue

**Author's Note: Hey, you guys! This was originally just going to be a oneshot, but I think that I'm going to continue it on for a couple chapters. I'm thinking maybe ten-eleven maximum. We'll see :)**

**Anyways, I'm writing this Author's Note to really ask you to review this opening chapter for me. I've been really working on my writing style and I'll take any critique that I can get! **

**Oh, and by the way:**

**-I ignore the Maiko at the end of Sozin's Comet. There is absolutely no Maiko in this at all. **

**-This is rated M for safety reasons because I tend to go a little gruesome at times and with Azula, you never know what might happen. **

**-I'll be switching between POV's, but most of the chapters will be written in Azula's POV. **

**-I WILL TACKLE WHAT I THINK HAPPENED TO URSA.**

**Okay, that is all, please read on and, please, review this for me! **

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-AZULA'S POV-

I open my eyes and let myself look at the room around me. In comparison to the prison cells that I have seen in the past, this one is not as terrible. It is actually quite nice for a cell used to keep me away from my dear brother. Oh, Zuko. Zuko, Zuko, Zuko. How I would love come and find you. Mother was always fondest of him, for reasons that I could never understand. Sure, she could pity him for his overall lack of firebending ability and charming looks, but that was no reason to love a child. Father despised him, and for good reason. He hated my brother for even existing, mostly because of his betrayal to our nation. Running off with the Avatar and bringing the war to an end? Please. I could have done that blindfolded with my hands tied behind my back, but why would I? What good reason could Zuko have had to betray our nation and remove our father from the throne. What could bring him to destroying all that our past Fire Lords have worked so hard to achieve? He and I had singlehandedly taken control of the Earth Kingdom and I had slayed the Avatar for a brief period of time.

He had it all. Zuko had no reason to betray our nation. He had no reason to betray me. Not like Mai. She was a fool. Her "I love Zuko more than I fear you" routine was complete utter bullshit and she knew that. She must have known that Zuko was done with her. She must have known that he had moved on to the Avatar's group and would probably mate with one of their people. Come to think of it, he probably did. That pesky waterbending peasant, oh, what was her name? Kiyana? Kirata? Katara? Yes, yes, that was it. Katara. He probably mated with her. I remember the look on his face as I tilted my aim toward that peasant and sent that lightning bolt straight to her heart. That filthy water whore would have died that night if it wouldn't have been for Zuko getting all heroic and taking the bolt for her. Oh, what a gentleman. Sucking up to a savage. Just perfect. Well, I still took one of them down. He was weak. There was no room for weak people in father's world. He would have taken Zuko down if I hadn't, so why not give father the gift of Zuzu's scared little head on a platter for him. Maybe he would have fried it had he had the chance. Maybe he would have if that Avatar hadn't taken away his bending. I heard the story from the guards that kept me in my cell. Poor father. He was only trying to rid the world of those inferior to him. He was only trying to save the world from being polluted by filthy monstrosities that would not praise him. He was only trying to help people.

I sit, facing the wall, as I hear footsteps approach the door to my cell. I hear the various locks open and someone enter. It is a female, by the lightness of the footsteps. That, or it is the Avatar, coming to gloat about his victory over my nation. It has been almost three years since Sozin's comet left us, and I have not heard as much as a greeting from my brother. He sends doctors to check on me, but they always report back with the same thing. I am deranged. I am unstable. No, I'm not a maniac. I just prefer not to have some fucking doctor put his filthy hands on me in any way. I am a princess. I deserve to be touched only by those I deem fit, and I have not given anyone said permission as of yet. Except for that boy on Ember Island - Chan.

Yes, I remind myself to kill him when I get the chance. No one walks out on Princess Azula of the Fire Nation after giving her a mating invitation. It was a small kiss, but that was an invitation for much more that would bring a child. It would give me an heir; something that poor, innocent little Zuzu has yet to have. The courts will probably mandate him to marry soon, and for the love of all that burns in this world, I hope that she is hideous. Oh, won't that just be wonderful? An ugly daughter of some wealthy aristocrat marries a scarred, spineless Fire Lord. Oh, happy days!

The stranger in my cell sits. I can hear her heartbeat slow down as she calms herself. Something is keeping her from speaking, but I won't dare turn around yet. Oh, Agni no. I wait until she speaks. She will torture herself with trying to find the words and when she finally says them, I will responds. That's just proper conversation. I wait for another minute before I finally hear her open her mouth to speak.

"It's been a long time, Azula." she says to me. My teeth clench as I immediately recognize the voice. I recognize the raspy, but light tone. I recognize the sharp, strategically placed inflections as she speaks. Mai.

I do not spin around. I only speak the words that will form from my vocal chords. The only words that make sense at the moment.

"What are you doing here?" I ask, each of the words pouring a venomous bite.

"I've come to see you," she says. "I have been hearing that you have been doing better. I hoped these rumors to be true." This is where I decide to reveal myself to her. I roll onto my back and do a backflip into the air, landing perfectly on my feet.

"Well," I say with sarcasm. "I assume that you're still living it up all alone with cobwebs in your womb like normal, so I guess we're both just" I deepen my voice a little for the next three words. "Living the dream." Mai doesn't move a muscle. I step back a little and lean against the wall. Oh, this is going to be fun. I make a sinister smirk and begin my verbal assault. "You know, Mai," I say. "This straight jacket is just awfully tight. Much like yourself. You can't get a man to give you a child to save your life." I get closer to her. "I bet Zuko laughed when he saw you undressed." I cackle a little to myself. "I know I would."

"So the rumors aren't true, then," she says in her usual monotone voice. "You're still a cold, heartless bitch?" I roll my eyes at the comment and ready myself. It's time. Yes, it is time to enact my revenge. I step back a little and do a back flip. I bounce off of the metal wall and burst out of my straight jacket with a sphere of fire. It has been only three years since I had seen my beautiful azure fire last, but it felt like a lifetime. Mai stands to fight, but I knock her back down with a bolt of fire. It catches her on the stomach and she screams in pain.

The door swings open and three armored guards run in. They all get into battle stances and I smile menacingly.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"It's been lovely chatting with you all," I say. "But I have a few loose ends to tie up!" I shoot a bolt of lightning into one of them and hit the other two with simultaneous jets of my fire. I dash out of the cell and run down the hallway. I recognize the prison as a mental ward on the small island of Inakai. Oh, typical Zuzu - keeping me far away from the palace, but close enough where you can still send his lackies to visit. I blast down both ends of the hall with fire and catch every guard coming my way. They all are wearing armor, but my fire burns through. Something about me feels more dangerous; almost like Sozin's comet is still here.

I jet down the hallway and out of a window. I propel myself into the air and smile as I see myself getting farther and farther away from the ward. I am approximately a night's flight away from reaching Ember Island, and another night away from the palace. I fly over the trees and land on the beach. I am far enough from the ward to regain my strength and start my journey. I look out onto the water am instantly reminded of my defeat. I remember the water trapping me, encasing me in ice so that that water savage could contain me. I shoot a blast of fire into the water and smile as I realize something; something very important. Zuzu took the bullet for Katara. He loves her. He will lose himself if he loses her. He will do anything to keep her safe.

I look out into the sea to see a large cargo ship passing by. It is moving to the southeast. I cackle softly and shoot myself at the ship with a boom. I fly fast in the air and land in the window of one of the lifeboat hatches. I will wait here until I have regained full strength. I will ride with this ship south. I will go to the South Pole and I will cut the only tie that keeps Zuko standing. But then I think to myself that by now, the shot to poor, miserable Mai's gut will have gotten infected and she will die. Zuko will know that I have escaped and he will send protection to all of his friends. He will have sent the majority of them to the Southern Water Tribe. It will be a struggle to get to her, but once I do, I will slay Katara and watch as her flesh burns all the way down to her bone. I will smell the fumes of her burning corpse that will enter my nostrils. I will smile as her screams ring through my ears when I bring the final blow. I will kill her. I will slaughter her. I. Will. Kill. Katara.

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**DUN DUN DUN DUUUUUUUHHHHN. **

**P.S, Mai isn't dead. Azula thinks she is, but she isn't.**

**REVIEW, PLEASE! :)**


	2. Chapter 1: It Begins

**Author's Note: Hello, readers. This is the first official chapter of the story. **

**CAUTION: In this chapter, some pretty dark things go down. If you cannot handle the following, I wouldn't advise reading.**

**-Animal Abuse/Murder**

**-Foul Language**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbenders or it's characters, no matter how bad I want to. **

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AZULA'S POV

I find myself waking up to the sound of crashing waves. I look over the side of the cargo ship to see that land is in near sight. I smirk. I am one step closer to my target. I take notice to the cargo ship coming closer and closer to the island nearby. Of course, they must be getting supplies or something. From what I could see, this ship was very low on cargo, so they must be picking some up at this island.

I shoot off of the edge and begin my flight to the island nearby. As I get closer, I recognize a large, red estate in the hillside. It was Royal Family Estate. This must be Ember Island. There is only one estate like it in the entire Fire Nation. Father used to use it as a vacation house for the summers and whatnot, but when he became Fire Lord, we stopped going. I had only been there once after that, and I had not even walked inside. For a moment, I had wanted to, but I didn't want to remind myself of what was.

I land on the roof of the estate and before I jump down, I listen closely. There is a giggle. I look down to see a few children running around. I growl to myself and want to shoot them all down with a wave of fire. Zuzu must have started an orphanage or something like that. Oh, how that is so.. _him_. I want so badly to shoot at the little shits, but I remind myself that I cannot. I need to be in the dark and secretive about my actions if I am to catch my prey. Katara must, by now, know of my escape and is probably quivering in her little snow boots. Of course she must know that I am coming for her. Who else would I go for? Maybe Zuzu, but he already has an army of soldiers to protect him. I doubt that little snow-huffing whore has any sort of protection besides her precious waterbending. I will take her down without breaking a sweat. I can already hear her screams. Oh, it is a pleasuring thought.

I silently move off of the roof into a nearby area of trees and run up the hillside. It is greener than I remember, like someone had been caring for it. Zuzu must be keeping these things all nice and green for these little children. He would be the only person in history that I know of that would actually care for a forest. Part of me wanted to light a spark and burn the forest to the ground, but no. I needed to keep my cover.

Once I am in far enough distance, I shoot into the air and fly around the island, high in the sky. I land far off of the beach, by another patch of woodland area. I walk a few feet and spot a cave in the corner. This is an uninhabited part of the island, so the only thing that I could possibly run into is some species of animal. Know and behold, a small pig-bear walks out of the cave and I step back a little. This is a cub, obviously. So, the real question is the location of the parent. Just then, the mother pig-bear comes out of the cave, followed by three other cubs. I snicker. Oh, well. At least I'll have food for the night. I run forward and blast the mother in the heart with a bolt of fire. She falls and is dead within the minute. Her cubs all huddle up beside their mother's corpse and I smile. Oh, isn't it considered impolite to kill something young? Yes, I think so. I put my arms down and watch as they start to cry out to their mother. Oh, they are pathetic. Their poor mother is now a decaying piece of meat and they need to get used to it.

"Azula," I hear a familiar voice scold from behind me. I already know who it is, so I do not turn around. "How dare you orphan those children like that!" My mother. Always advocating for the weak. Maybe that's why she loved Zuzu more than me. Maybe it was for his weakness. She feared my power, so she ran to him. Priceless. Just, priceless.

"Oh, quiet, mother," I say. "You did the same to me so don't pretend like you care." She did, though. She left without a trace or even having the decency to say goodbye. No, she did not care enough to confess to her own children that she was leaving for good. Poor little Zuzu would have cried. I wouldn't have cared in the slightest, but who knows, she might have actually given us a reason. Father never cared to enlighten me with a reason, so I just let myself believe that there wasn't one. Maybe she committed adultery or something like that. Frankly, I didn't give a shit, but it would have been nice to know something substantial.

"I left for reasons that you would not understand, Azula." she says back to me. I laugh.

"I don't care why you left, mother," I snap. "You are nothing to me. You never were. You never will be." With that, she says nothing to me. I turn around and she not there. Oh, that is just classic. She pretends to be a parent to me for once and then just leaves before explaining? Oh, how that is such a classic characteristic of hers. She really does deserve the "Mother of the Year" award. Such a parent, such a parent.

I look at the pig-bear cubs, cuddling to their mother, crying and whining for her to respond to them. She won't, obviously, because she's dead. The sooner these little shits understand that - the better. I scowl.

"Get over it!" I scream at them. "Your precious little mommy is dead! DEAD! I killed her!" I walk up and grab one of them by the neck. "You don't need a mommy," I say. "I didn't have a mommy, and I'm perfectly fine, right?" I grip tighter on its neck. "RIGHT?!" I can hear it choking and I throw it onto the ground. All four of the cubs run into the cave and I scream at them. "GO THEN," I scream. "RUN BACK INTO YOUR LITTLE CAVE!" I storm over to the entrance. "I CAN ALWAYS COME AND GET YOU, YOU KNOW!" I scream out and throw a wave of scalding-hot azure fire into the cave, illuminating it in it's entirety with flames. I can hear the cries of the little cubs and I cackle, thinking of how easy this is. I think of how easy it shall be to kill Katara. Oh, how it will fulfill me when I burn her body to a crisp. I shall drown her in fire, throwing it into her windpipe. She will breathe in my flames and perish from the wounds that I shall give her. The bitch will die! She deserves to!

The flames go away and I walk into the cave. I make a flame in my hand and I see the charred bone remains of the pig-bear cubs. They dared to mess with me, so they paid the price. I sit on the ground, breathing in the smell of burnt tissue and flesh. I snicker and lean up against the wall. It is still a little warm from my firestorm. Oh, how I love the heat of a fresh burning. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I need to rest. I am still not at my fullest and while I am here, there is an old friend that I need to pay a visit. There is a very special boy who lives nearby. I remember the location of his humble abode. It is nearly a mile from my location, so I shall go tonight. I shall find him and burn him alive. I shall make him how he made me feel - destroyed. I will go to his home and slaughter him. I say his name with an exhale of fiery breath.

"Chan."

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KATARA'S POV

I walk up the stairs to the palace with dignity. It is time to teach my first waterbending class. It's about time. After Aang left a year ago to finish his training with Guru Pahtik, I was left to finish learning waterbending forms. I had almost fully become a master, but before I could be a teacher, I had to learn and practice every form. It was a long, tedious process, but I finally did it just last week. Now, I can officially be called "Master Katara". Wow, it actually sounds pretty nice.  
I reach the large open area in front of the palace and smile. I can still barely wrap my head around the fact that there is now a full palace and city in the South Pole. We can now, officially, be named the Southern Water Tribe. To be honest, I didn't even know I was royalty until now. My father is the chief, so I guess that makes me the princess or something. I don't like it. Not the title, but all of the things that come along with it. Sure, being pampered by servants can be nice at times, but I really would rather just do my own laundry or cook my own meals. It's more of a pride thing, I think. I grew up not knowing whether my father was ever going to return, so I had to be the parent between my brother and I. Of course I carry the thoughts of being a responsible figure every day. I think that's why it's hard for me to let people do things for me. I don't know, I am just glad that I am finally a master waterbender.

My students are already waiting for me. I only have three students, two girls and one boy, mostly because Master Pakku is still teaching, so everyone goes to him. These students are pupils of his that wanted to learn from me. I did not pick them or anything. Pakku came to me with their names and I accepted them eagerly.

"Good morning," I say. "How's everyone feeling?" I get no response. Oh, great. They treat me like they would to Pakku. I smile at them. "It's okay," I say to them, trying to break the ice. "I'm not like Pakku. You can talk to me informally. We're all around the same age, remember." That was a plus. I really like teaching those around my age because, well, I can connect with them more. It makes me feel like they are friends instead of students. That's how I got Aang to learn so easily. That, and he is the Avatar. He was also my boyfriend up until a year ago, so it makes sense that he would like to learn from me.

Aang and I were good together to a point, but when it came time for him to leave for his Avatar duties, I realized that he would never be able to really settle down somewhere. We would always be moving, and while that is good for a nomad, it wasn't really my style. Sure, I could learn to love it, but why would I? I am now a waterbending teacher, and maybe I could be a politician of sorts in the future. I love politics and ever since the war ended, I have attended many meetings about peace and trade. The whole aspect of government intrigues me, and I think that I could make a good politician if I put my mind to it, but for now, I was teaching.

"So," I say, now paying full attention to my students. "I'm Katara! Pakku told me your names, but I'm not sure who's who here." I laugh, trying to break the tension. Luckily, it does to some avail. One of the girls speaks up. She's a tall, skinny girl with short cut brown hair and crystal blue eyes.

"I'm Yin-Mai," she says. "But you can call me Yin. I like it better. It's simpler."

"Nice to meet you." I reply. Finally, someone letting loose other than me. I walk over to the other girl and smile warmly. She is a shorter girl, with long black hair in double braids. "What's your name?" She blinks a couple times nervously before stuttering out her reply.

"M-My-My name is Io." She pushes her parka up to her chin and steps back a little. I keep my smile and scratch my head, nervously. This girl is going to take some work to bring out of her box, I can already tell.

"That's a very pretty name," I say. "For a very pretty girl." Maybe that'll make her smile. Sure enough, it did. I smile back and step over to the boy, who is very distant. His hair is to his jaw and is pretty shaggy. He has defined facial features and almost light gray eyes.

"You must be-"

"Onyx." He cuts me off. I brush it off. I don't want to be a mean teacher. They won't learn well if I don't give them respect as well. I really look at him and to an extent, he reminds me a little of a younger Zuko. Without the scar, of course, but looks and body type wise, they could be brothers or something like that.

"Nice to meet you." I say. This is going to be a trip. I step back a little toward the middle of the area and immediately, my students ready themselves to begin. I smirk. "So," I say. "Who wants to have a little sparring session. I need to see where you guys are in your training." They all nod, except for Onyx. He just stands there, a blank look on his face. I take that as a yes and I put the two girls together. I need to bring this kid out of his comfort zone. Maybe he'll respond better if he's in a duel.

"You and me, Onyx," I say to him. "You think you can take me?" For once, he snickers. He steps forward and I watch him enter a stance. It's not a stance I'm familiar with, but everyone has their personal style. He starts to make his first move and I stop dead in my tracks. My eyes go wide at his position. He has his index and middle finger pointed and he gathers snow from the ground. I realize that I am familiar with this form. It is a firebending form; a lightning form to be precise. The same form that Azula used to try and shoot me. Memories of that day shoot through my brain. Blue flames clattering against orange. Lightning. Zuko. Crash. It all comes back and I fall back onto my back. I don't even notice my students rushing to my aid. I only see eyes. The golden eyes of Princess Azula, haunting me. The lightning bolt coming straight at me. Zuko taking the bolt.

"Katara..." A voice rings in my ear. It's a raspy, gritted tone. Zuko? Is it Zuko? It can't be. I see a face in front of mine, looking down at me. It's him. It's Zuko. I blink a couple times and I realize that it's not him. It's Onyx, asking if I'm alright. I sit up a little and I see that Io and Yin are there, as well. I watch as Yin rises some snow into a block and helps me sit on it.

"Are you alright?" she asks me. I nod and then look to Onyx.

"Where did you learn that form?" He gives me a questioned look. It's like he doesn't know what I'm talking about. I decide to specify what I mean. "The form with the fingertips," I say. "The one that you were about to use for your first move."

"Oh," he says. "My aunt taught me that before she passed away a couple years ago. She wasn't a bender, but she said that it could help me out if I ever got into it with a firebender." He shuffled his feet a little. "She said that I could be quick enough to catch them off guard." I nod.

"Do you know what kind of form that is?" He shakes his head.

"It's a firebending form," I say. His eyes go wide. "It's a form used for creating lightning." Onyx takes a minute to breathe before sitting down in the snow. It appears that his aunt never told him what the forms were really used for. I wonder how his aunt knew the form. I mean, sure, many water tribe members had come in contact with lightning before from firebending, but to know the form in a complete enough state to teach it was really rare. Come to think of it, no one that I know has ever had that much experience other than myself. I wonder who his aunt was. A Northern Water Tribe woman around the time that he learned that form would have never been able to last five minutes against a firebender capable of lightning, let alone able to take notes on their lightning form. I want to ask more questions, but then I remind myself that he said that she died. It would be rude to bring up someone who is deceased. I know I would hate it if someone were to bring up my mother to me.

"Okay," I say hastily. "Let's get back to business." I get in a form and start to pull up water when all of the sudden a voice is heard from behind me, calling my name.

"Master Katara!" he yells. "Master Katara!" I turn around and I am shocked to see a man dressed in Fire Nation armor running toward me. He stops nearly a foot away and bows. I return the gesture.

"Hello."

"Urgent message from Fire Lord Zuko, ma'am," he says. "Princess Azula has escaped from the ward on Inakai Island. He wishes to have you escorted to the Fire Nation immediately, where he can have you protected." Before I can catch my breath, I am falling back again. Yin catches me with a mound of snow. I am gazing into the sky, my eyes wide as the clouds. Azula. Free. Zuko. Fire Nation. It's all too much. She's coming for me. She's coming to get revenge. I have to leave. But what of my students?

"I-" I take a deep breath before continuing. "I have my students, here." I make a gesture toward them. They bow to the man. "I can't just leave them here."

"They may travel with you," he says. "Along with anyone else you wish to bring. It is not known how long you will be in the Fire Nation." I nod. I look to my students. The give me a nod and I look back to the man.

"I will go," I say. "But I must have someone warn my brother on Kyoshi Island. He and Suki need to be warned of what may come. If she's traveling from the Fire Nation, she might stop at Kyoshi before finishing her way here. I also need you to send hawks to the Eastern Air Temple and Gaoling, as well. Aang and Toph need to know, too."

"Miss Bei Fong is already aware of the princess's sudden escape," he informs me. "She is at the palace at the moment, awaiting your arrival along with the Fire Lord." Toph will be at the palace? Good. That's more reliable than just having palace guards. She'll know if Azula's near or not. I stand up and catch my breath.

"Good," I said. "You will send those other two messages for me, though, right?" The man nods.

"We will leave immediately." I nod and he returns with a bow. Three more Fire Nation guards come up the stairs and escort my students and I to the ship. There are already supplies and rooms prepared for us onboard, so we don't need to bring anything. Thank the spirits. I am terrible at packing for a journey. I am escorted to a large room with a Fire Navy flag on the wall and a soft mattress on the floor. There is a vase of water on a desk for me and a cupboard with three outfits from both the Fire Nation and Water Tribes. It's actually a pretty decent room. It's not better than flying on Appa, though. Oh, how I miss that big fluffy flying bison.

"Thank you," I say to the guards as they leave me alone in my room. I lay on the mattress and look up at the metal ceiling. Azula has escaped. The thought of her after being in that institution just makes me cringe. She was already insane when she was put in there. I couldn't imagine the horrors that could be waiting for me now that she is out after three years of solitary confinement.

It was Zuko's idea to put her alone. She would harm anyone who was in firing range, so there was no point in putting her in a room with anyone. Plus, she was a princess. Someone would get a funny idea to try and snuff her out. Even though she was a psychopath, she was still royal blood to Zuko. She was still family. Yeah, family that tried to kill him. I couldn't imagine Sokka trying to hurt me, or my father. There has only been one person from my tribe to ever try to harm me. The mere thought of her still haunts my dreams; Hama, the bloodbending old woman from hell that turned me into a monster. I still remember the feeling of controlling the blood in another body. Just the thought of it makes me want to vomit. How could she have found that right? What really made her believe that innocent people deserved to be controlled and contorted like that? It never made any sense to me and it never will. It's sick and I never want to do it again. I can still remember when I used it on the man that I thought was Yon Rah. I was filled with so much rage. I just wanted to rip his head off. But when I found out that it wasn't really him, and that he was just a captain of the Southern Raiders, I realized that I had gone too far. I still wanted to find Yon Rah, and I did, but that poor captain didn't deserve that, no matter his ethnicity. I turned onto my side and closed my eyes. I just need some rest. I need to clear my mind. I just need some sleep.

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AZULA'S POV

I wake up to the moon's luminescent glow. It sparks a flame in me and I jump up to my feet. I feel rested. I feel powerful. I feel dangerous. I light a flame in my palm and, sure enough, it burns extremely bright. A smirk appears on my face and I walk out of my cave. When I get out into the open forest, I see the carcass of the mother pig-bear that I slaughtered. Oh, how her babies cried for her. I cackled a little as I walked passed the carcass.

I shoot myself into the air and propel myself onto the beach. As I expected, no one was on the beach. It's not like anyone would recognize me, anyway. I looked far different than when I was in high standing with my nation. My hair had grown out more and my bangs back in. I had filled out through my hips and chest, so I was a bit curvier. My face was more defined and less childish. Sure, I was only 18, but that didn't matter. I was still beautiful. I looked like my father. I looked like the picture of perfection.

I walk down the beach a little farther, but stop in my tracks as I see a woman coming toward me. She is about my height, with short black hair and gold eyes.

"Excuse me," she says to me. "I'm not familiar with this part of the island and I was wondering how you get back to town. I got separated from my boyfriend this morning and now I can't find my way back." I smile in almost a devious way. This is perfect. A good way to get out of my old, dirty clothes and into new ones. I laugh a little and put my hand on her shoulder.

"Come with me," I say. "I will lead you back to town." We walk up the beach a little and I look for a place to stash her while saying in a serious voice "Time to die." I blast her in the throat and smile brightly as I kick her down into the sand. I strip her of her clothes and throw her into the sewer grate nearby. I smile as I put on her clothes. They're typical fire nation beach wear, but it's better than the rags that I have been wearing for the past three years. I walk up the beach wiping the blood from my arm in the water. I dry myself off quickly and find myself staring at the house that I had my first kiss at, three years ago.

"Chan." I say the name with ferocity and sensuality. Oh, I am going to enjoy this.

I walk over to the balcony and jump up onto it. I try the door and, to my shock, it's unlocked. One would think that at this time of night it would be locked for safety. Eh, I'm happy with whatever. The quicker I get in and out, the better. It is only when I see Chan, there, sitting on his couch that I choose otherwise. I could stay for as long as I want. I'm going to make him regret ever hurting me.

"Oh, Chan!" I call in a sing-song voice. He turns his head toward me and I can see that he doesn't immediately recognize me. I smile in almost a sinister way as I light a flame in my hand. He takes notice to the color of the flame and jumps back. Good. He recognizes me.

"What are you doing here?" he yells at me. I laugh and let the flame diminish.

"Oh, Chan," I say. "I've missed you so. How come you never wrote to me? I thought we were on a good road to having some... _fun." _I let a purr out after that last word. He smirks a little and walks over to me.

"I knew you missed me," he put his arm around me. "We can still have that fun, babe. All you have to do is ask?" I smile. He is such a tool. Oh, well, time to do what I came here to do. No dilly-dallying here.

"You know, Chan," I say. "I don't take too well to being used and you, you pathetic sack of shit, are planning to use me. I can see it in your eyes." He has a look of surprise on his face. "I just.. I just can't let you live."

"What?" I shoot him in the kneecap first. He falls and screams in pain. Oh, how I do love screams. I push him down onto his back and burn his shoulders. He screams out in pain and I smile chastely. I'm going to enjoy this. I get down to his face. We are inches apart from one another. He leans in to kiss me, like an idiot, and I simply open my mouth. He gives me a questioning look. I laugh for a second and exhale a wave of fire onto his face, burning the skin and a little bit of the flesh completely off. I cackle loudly as I jump off of him and twirl around, zapping little vases and glass items with bolts of lightning.

All of the sudden the front door opens and a man walks in. A man I recognize as Admiral Gin from the war ministry. I laugh to myself. He was my father's strongest advocate during the war and now that Zuzu is crowned ruler, he is now a member of little Zuzu move for peace. The Admiral takes one look at his son's scorched face and screams in agony. I laugh and shoot at him with a blast of fire. He moves out of the way and sends a blast at me. I jump behind the couch and call out to him.

"Oh, Admiral Gin," I yell dramatically. "Chan was a bad boy, and in my world, bad boys get burned!" I shoot a bolt of lightning at Gin. He dodges out of the way and we become enthralled in a duel. It was quick to end, though, because I managed to fly up through a hole I blasted in the roof. Once I am high enough, I bolt over to a nearby hillside. There, I laugh maniacally as I charge up a large bolt of lightning. I smirk as the Admiral looks out at me through the window.

"Better pay attention, Admiral," I scream. "This might be a little shocking!" I shoot the bolt at the house at within seconds of it's collision, the house explodes. Wow. I was expecting a miniature explosion. But, who doesn't love surprises? I run from the human barbecue stand that was once previously known as the house of Gin. I find myself running to the docks, looking for a boat going south. After about ten minutes of looking, I finally find one. It is a simple cargo ship delivering some food to the tribe down there. Can't they just chew on raw fish and kelp like they used to? Why do we have to send them our food? This must be one of Zuzu's brilliant ideas. Well, things are going to change back to normal once I get my revenge. Fire Lord Zuzu will fall and I shall let my father return as supreme ruler of the world.

I jump inside of a crate and get myself carried onboard. It's not as magnificent as a palanquin or anything, but it does the trick. I get let down in what appears to be a small cargo holding area. When the coast is clear, I leap out from the crate and explore the area. There is a vast assortment of goods that are both Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation made. I can tell which is which by the elemental insignia branded on the crates. The one I sneaked in on, of course, was Fire Nation. I move to open one of the crates, but I stop when I hear footsteps approaching closer. I jump back into my crate and shut the lid. It is quite large in terms of size, and there are few contents inside. I wait for the footsteps to leave the room, and when they do, I light a flame on my fingertip to examine the contents of this crate. Surprisingly, they are perishable, but heatable products. I see a case containing what looks to be almost three dozen jars of la-chi noodles and six baskets of cooking oil. Why the traders would bother to use this large of a crate to stuff a few pieces of grocery items was beyond me. I couldn't give a shit less, but I was happy that they did. It was their incompetence that allowed me to sneak onto this ship.

I grab one of the jars and pry the top open with my nails. I heat the bottom of the jar, successfully cooking the noodles. I look around for some sort of eating utensil, but alas, there is none. I decide to just swig it down. It may not be the style that a princess should use, but I am in a spot where no one can see. It is perfectly fine. I smile as the food reaches my stomach. It has been days since my last meal, so it's quite fulfilling to me to have food in my system. I lay back on the wooden wall of the crate and take another swig of the noodles. I am disgusted with myself. A princess should not be in this situation. It is not my fault that I am in here, and I know that. It is Zuko's fault. Poor little Zuzu. He doesn't even know what is to come for him - or his pathetic little water savage. I finish the noodles and set the can on the other side of the crate. Now would be a time for sleep. Yes, I need to rest. There is nothing else to do for the time being, so I shall sleep.

_I am in the Royal Palace. Strange. How did I get here from almost the whole way across the country? This is not a time for questioning the how. While I am here, I should check on Zuzu. Oh, how he probably misses me! Ha! I bet the mere thought of my return keeps him up at night. Even when he falls asleep, I can only imagine how the image of my azure fire haunts him. My lightning must be his ultimate fear, due to his new scar right below his precious little heart. _

_I sneak my way through the halls and find myself at the entrance of the throne room. I am about to walk in, but I stop when I hear a set of footsteps from behind me, I turn around and to my utter shock and dismay, I see Mai running toward the curtain door. I am standing directly in front of her vision, but she does not seem to see me. _

_"So," I say. "It appears that you're still alive after all. Not to worry, I'll-" I stop myself when I see her run straight through me. I look down at my body, and that is when I realize that my entire form is blue. Could the universe have picked any other color to make me at the moment? I despise this color. It is the color of those pathetic water tribes. It is the color of that witch Katara. _

_I walk into the throne room at the same time as Mai and find myself staring right at my brother. He is sitting on the throne, his eyes widening. Yes, he must see me. But, no. He is looking at Mai with the wide eyes. He cannot see me. Why can't anyone see me? I growl to myself and walk forward to hear better._

_"It's Azula," spits my ex-friend. "She escaped!" _

_"What?!" His voice is filled with fear. I can feel it in his tone. Poor Zuzu, Don't you worry. I will come for you soon. No matter that you cannot see me right now. I shall make my presence known when I find out how to remove this blue coating. _

_"She escaped," Mai informs, out of breath. "She faked a fit in her cell and escaped when one of the guards left the door open." Mai walked to the edge of the thrown and I could feel the emotion from across the room. "She may be coming for you," she says. "She said something about tying up loose ends." I see Zuko's eyes go wide and I laugh to myself. He thinks I'm coming for him first? Oh, how stupid he-_

_"Katara." I hear him say. Wait, what? How can he possibly-_

_"What?" _

_"She's coming for Katara," he says. "Trust me. I know it seems a little far fetched, but send a ship to the South Pole and bring her here." I scream. How could he have completely figured out my plan? Mother of Agni, I want to burn his fucking head off. Wait, maybe I can. But, no. I try to light a flame in my palm and nothing happens. It must be this damn blue coating. What in the name of Sozin's Comet is going on here? _

_"You're confused," I hear a raspy, female voice say. I turn and see a creature standing before me. It is tall, with glowing golden eyes and a violet coating over it's black form. It is like a large cat-like insect. I move back and prepare to fight, but the creature sits. _

_"Who are you and how can you see me?" I snap. "No one else can see me. What's so special about you?" _

_"My dear," the beast says. "You are in the Spirit World. Of course others cannot see you. Quite a relief, is it not? You now have the upper hand on your enemy." The spirit world? As a child, I listened to my mother tell Zuzu so many stories about the Spirit World, but I never understood. Was it some sort of purgatory for dead people or what? _

_"Did you bring me here?" The beast only nods. I nod back and get out of my battle stance. "Who are you and why are you helping me?" _

_"I am known by many names, child," it says. "But you may call me The Dark Spirit." I nod. What a strange name. But, I guess it fits. Such a strange creature deserves an equally strange name. _

_"Why are you helping me?" _

_"Just know that your goals help mine," it says to me. "Get to the waterbender. She has already received her ship to come here, so your best option is to meet her in the middle of her journey. Her ship will dock on Kyoshi Island to repair. You will go there and attack. But be warned, an old friend of yours will be there. You will need to be vigilant at all times." The Dark Spirit touches my forehead. "Do not lose sight of your goals." And with that, The Dark Spirit was gone. _

I jolt up and smack my head off of the top of something hard and wooden. I light a flame on my fingertip and I see that the blue coating that was on my body is now gone. My bending works again and I am back in the same crate on the same cargo ship. I question whether or not I had dreamed all of that. Was Mai really alive, or did I just imagine so? No, no. The Dark Spirit was real. The clarity in what she said -

Wait. Was it a she? I mean, the voice was female, but there were no genitalia that I could see. Maybe it was gender neutral. Spirits are a whole new dynamic territory for me, so I decide to just call it a she. Nevertheless, I now know where to find Katara. I know exactly where to go, so that I could fry her. The only thing that bugs me about this is what The Dark Spirit told me about Kyoshi Island.

_An old friend of yours will be there."_

Could she mean Mai? There is no way that Mai could get there from the Capital City in time. Who else could she mean? Then it hits me, almost like a speeding shot of lightning to the brain.

_You will need to be vigilant at all times._

Ty Lee. There is no other person that could possibly be in any position to make me on my my guard. Ty Lee could end my fighting just with a few punches. I knew how to avoid her, as well as how to fight her, but then the last part of what The Dark Spirit had said cuts into my mind.

_"Do not lose sight of your goals._

I am not supposed to fight Ty Lee. I am supposed to go for Katara, but still keep my eyes peeled for Ty Lee. I shall not lose sight of my goals. I will slaughter Katara. I will burn her corpse with a smile on my face. Those Kyoshi won't fare well if they decide to attack me. I cackle softly to myself. After I finish off Katara, Ty Lee will regret ever turning against me. I'll hold her down and burn her from the inside out. What will happen to Katara will seem like child's play compared to what I will do to her.

_Do not lose sight of your goals_

"I assure you," I say quietly into the air, hoping The Dark Spirit is around. "I won't."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**So, that's chapter one! **

**REVIEW, PLEASE :)**


	3. Chapter 2: Of The Past, Of The Future

**Author's Note: So, I've changed the title to Tainted Purity for reasons that you'll see in this chapter.**

**Review, please. I really need criticism.**

* * *

KATARA'S POV

_Sozin's Comet has come. Zuko and I are just now flying into the Fire Nation. I look at him. His face just screams fear. _

_"Don't worry Zuko," I say to him. "We can handle Azula." _

_"I'm not worried about her," He looks down at the water below us. "I'm worried about Aang. What if he doesn't have the strength to take out my father. What if he loses?" I look down at my feet. Those are the questions that are filling my head on a daily basis. I don't know if Aang can take out the Fire Lord. He's a smart kid and all, but he's still a monk by nature. _

_"Aang won't lose," I reassure him. "He will come back. He has to." I see Zuko look over to me and give me a look of seriousness. He has this look in his eye, almost like there's something he's struggling to say._

_"Katara," he says to me. "If we don't make it out of this-" _

_"No," I snap. "We will not say any goodbyes. We're going to make it out of this." Zuko looks down at the water again, returning to silence. Part of me wonders what he was going to say. It was a goodbye, sure, but it seemed to almost allude into a confession. What was there to confess? We were no longer enemies, and something like friends. There wasn't anything left to confess, was there? I look at his face, and I see him look ominously into the distance, thinking about Azula, and what was to come. _

_It had gone worse than originally imagined. Zuko confronted Azula, but she challenged him to an Agni Kai; a word I later found out the hard way meant Fire Duel. The fight was evenly matched, to say the least. Something was off about Azula, more than usual. She fought with pure vicious ferocity, no thought behind her strikes other than to kill. She messily aimed and shot her blue flames in large quantity. Zuko defended himself quite well, and finally got the upper hand a few minutes later, landing Azula flat on her stomach._

_Zuko is taking a deep breath. I watch him closely. He's taunts her, trying to make her completely slip. He's so stupid. If she gets angry enough, one shot could kill him. At least she wasn't shooting lightning. That way, we were a little more safe. Just as I think that we're on the upper hand, Zuko does the one thing to screw it up._

_"What," he says. "No lightning today? Afraid I'll redirect it?" Oh, crap. Zuko, no! What the hell is he thinking? She could kill him. I step down a little, just in case he needs healing or help against Azula. _

_"Oh," Azula nearly screams. "I'll show you lightning." She pulls her arms back, making bolts of lightning in her hands. They are enormous, enhanced by the comet. I watch as Zuko calms his breath, preparing to redirect it. I remember him showing Aang this move, and it seemed quite easy, but against this kind of lightning, I don't know what will happen. _

_Azula takes aim at Zuko, but I notice her eyes dart to me. No. A large smirk crosses her face as she changes her aim - directly at me. The bolt is released and I see a wave of electric light coming at me. No. I'm going to die. I take a deep breath, ready to accept it, when I see something running toward I see him mouth something that I can't understand. Next thing I know, he takes the bolt to the stomach. No. Zuko! I try to scramble my emotions together and run to his aid. Maybe if I can heal him now, it will be alright. I run toward him, but a wave of blue fire blocks my way. _

_Azula comes charging at me, fire on her hands. She has officially lost her mind, cackling wildly and shooting lightning everywhere. I try to avoid her blasts and I can't stop looking at Zuko's limp form, trying to hold onto whatever little bit of life he has left in him. I don't even notice Azula jumping onto the building behind me. _

_"I'd rather our family physician look after little Zuzu if you don't mind!" She screams, gathering lightning in her hands. She shoots it at me, and I barely dodge it. I run behind a pillar and hyperventilate. _

_"Zuzu," I hear her yell. "You don't look so good!" The next thing I hear is her maniacal grunt and the sound of lightning approach the pillar. I quickly move, but I am focused, no, entranced by the sound of the lightning. I am caught in the gaze of a mad woman preparing another strike at me. I see her arms wave back, her eyes a menacing gold, and the lightning come from her fingertips - directly toward my position._

_CRACKACRACK_

I shoot up out of bed, screaming at the top of my lungs. That night, the night of Sozin's Comet, has permanently stained my mind. I can't go a day without thinking about it. The lightning was supposed to hit me. It was supposed to kill me. But, no. Zuko's dumb ass had to jump in front of it. That just infuriates me. If I had just simply moved out of the way, I wouldn't have had to take the time to battle Azula alone. He and I could have beat her together and he wouldn't have a scar the size of a passion fruit on his abdomen. Hell, I wouldn't have this mental scarring. Why was I so stupid?

I get out of bed and walk out of my room. I make sure to shut the door behind me as soft as I can. I don't want someone to get woken up from me needing some air. I would hate to have someone run up to my bedroom door and think that someone could be attacking or something stupid like that. We are in the middle of the ocean. I seriously doubt that someone could just fly up onto the ship and come for me.

_CRACKACRACK_

I jump at the sound of the lightning. It's been three years, but the sound of a storm still gives me shivers. I walk down the metal hallway and up to the deck. It's raining fiercely, so I sit right beside where the rain is falling. I pull a few drops into my hand and spin them around. Rain water feels different from ocean or river water when you bend it. It has almost a sticky, cotton feel to it. I toss the water out onto the deck. I am about to walk back to my room when I hear someone coming toward me. Probably a night guard or something. I stand up and then I see someone coming closer; a woman with black hair tied into a small ponytail. She has a red robe on. One thought pops in my head. Azula.

I shoot a dozen droplets of water toward her, but I am pulled back to reality when I see that the robe is actually blue. The girl stops the water in mid-air and I drop my stance. She throws the water to the side and gives me a concerned look. It's one of my students, Yin. She was the second oldest student of mine, being 16 years old. Onyx was the first, at 18, and then Io was the youngest, at 14.

"Are you okay, Master Katara?" Her face has worry in it. She kind of resembles Princess Yue in a way, except with black hair instead of white. I nod quickly and sit back down on the metal.

"I'm fine," I say. "I just had a bad dream and now I'm a little on the defensive?" She touches my shoulder and sits down next to me. We're close enough that I notice a small scar on her jaw, right below her ear. Normally, her hair covers that area, but the ponytail makes it visible. I decide not to ask her about it. I never asked Zuko about his scar, so I won't ask Yin about hers. I feel like that might be something traumatic and it's never good to bring something like that. I know that's how it is whenever someone asks about my necklace. Because of my age, people would ask me if I'm married or getting married because of my necklace. I just normally give them the run of the mill "it was my mother's" and end the conversation without talking too much about it. It's such a painful memory, so I don't like to bring it up.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I hear Yin say.

"No." I hastily reply.

"Are you sure-"

"Yes," I quickly say. "I'm sure." Yin puts her head down. Oh, crap. I mentally kick myself. I'm not a mean person. Especially to my students. I don't want them to hate me. "I'm sorry," I say. "It's just that I haven't been back at the palace since Zuko's coronation and that was just a week after Sozin's Comet came. The wounds are still a little fresh for me."

"Well," she replies. "If I were you, I'd look at this like a new bending move. Approach it head on. Don't be afraid to really kick it into gear. There's nothing to be afraid of." Except Azula. I'm afraid of her and she knows it. That's what scares me the most. She knows that if she finds me, I'll fight, but I will be a little off my game.

"Last time I saw Azula," I explain. "She was shooting flames out of her mouth and trying to kill me. From what I've heard from Zuko, she's completely gone." I feel a knot in my throat as I continue. "If she finds us before we get to the Fire Nation," I shudder a little. "Run. Take Io and Onyx and get to safety. I've fought her before, but I'm not sure how deadly she will be now." Yin takes a deep breath and puts her hand on my kneecap.

"I'm not sure Master Pakku really told you about us," she says. "did he?" I shake my head. Pakku gave me their names and a rough description of their skill level. Other than that, I know nothing about them. "The reason that Io and I chose to become your students wasn't because you were the War Hero Master Katara," She laughs a little before going serious in her tone. "Even though we now live in the South Pole, the Northern Traditions are still held to standard in our families. Io, for instance, bended for the first time when we started taking lessons from Master Pakku a year ago. She's extremely shy, but when she's fighting, her fuel to beat the old traditions makes her almost deadly."

"Wow," I say. "Sounds like how I was when I met Pakku. If it wasn't for my grandmother being his ex-fiancee, he would have never taught me."

"Yes," Yin continues. "Most of the families are still that way, contrary to our move. I don't know about Onyx and what he went through, but he never wanted to learn from Pakku. There was a rift between the two of them that no one ever really understood." I nodded. Onyx was very off to the side and calm, but he never seemed to really want to learn anything. He had talent from what Pakku had said, but I have yet to see any drive at all.

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"You haven't really spoken about your skills or anything at all," I say. "Pakku raved about your power and everything, so I'm really confused on what makes you like the other two."

"What do you mean?"

"Onyx has his whatever with Pakku and Io has her new talent," I say. "But you, on the other hand, seem to have had no problems with Pakku from what he said. I'm just wondering why you left is all." I see Yin's face droop a little and an ashamed look on her face.

"Pakku and I had our problems, alright," she explains. "Pakku is all for fighting to kill when it comes to battle. I'm not that way. I hate using waterbending to do harm. Whenever I duel, I try to avoid causing the opponent any pain. I'm not a murderer and I'll never be one." I look at her with a soft expression on my face. She's sounding more and more like Yue. She doesn't want to cause conflict. She only wants to be happy. That's why she couldn't work with Pakku. I learned from him because I was focused on my bending more than power. He always did teach about causing harm in duels and I always avoided it.

"I understand where you're coming from," I say. "I honestly do. I've seen sides of waterbending that would make you cringe. It's not pretty, but I see it as a learning side to things. We have to know about the darker sides of things in order to stay away from them." Yin looks to me like she knows what I'm talking about. I see a flash of pain in her eye and I reach out to her. Tears start to well up in her eyes.

"My mother was a waterbender," she says. "She studied fighting scrolls behind her father's back and mastered it in full. When I discovered that I could bend, she taught me in secret." She tried to wipe her tears as they fell. "One night, she and I were on our way home from training by the coast. We had just made it back into the city when we were stopped by a group of men. They were all taunting us, telling us of our beauty and all these terrible things." She coughs out a small laugh as she continues. "Being a child, I thought that I could take them all out. I tried to fight them, but my bending wasn't strong enough. My mother came to protect me."The tears are really falling, and I wrap her in my arms. "She fought them to the best of her ability, but there were too many men. One of them knocked her off of their feet and cut her down. Right there. I watched them slaughter her from a hole in the wall. I was only seven years old."

I feel my heart shatter as she gets silent. I hold her close and feel myself tearing up a little.  
"I was around the same age when I lost my mother, too," I say. "I lost her in a Fire Nation raid. They were looking for the last waterbender and she said it was her. She lied to protect me." My memory travels back to when I confronted Yon Rah, the sinister bastard who did it. I could have easily cut him down quick and easy, but I didn't. I knew, deep in my heart, that I was too strong to let myself stoop to his level.

Yin continues to cry in my arms and I keep holding her. After a few minutes, I help her stand up and I walk her to her room. We walk inside and I sit her down on her bed. She lays down and I walk toward the door.

"Katara." I hear her say. I turn around to face her. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." I shut the door behind her and start the short walk back to my room. I make it to my door in less than a few minutes and by the time I lay onto my bed, my eyes start to get heavy. I'm falling asleep faster and faster before all of the sudden, I'm out.

* * *

AANG'S POV

_3 DAYS EARLIER_

I sit on the top of a spire of the Eastern Air Temple. Guru Pathik sits across from me, watching my breathing. We have been trying to finish my spiritual training for months now, but it doesn't seem to be working. I keep telling myself to find my center and concentrate. I take a deep breath. When I exhale, I open my eyes.

_I find myself in a clouded room. In front of me are a group of three Air Nomads. The woman in the front, I recognize as Avatar Yangchen. The two others, a man and a woman, I do not know are both very pale, elderly people. I smile at them, but they keep a stone-cold expression. Avatar Yangchen looks to me and smiles._

_"Hello, Aang," she says. "Allow me to introduce Mak and his wife, Kila." I bow. Yangchen waves her hand and we are all of the sudden sitting in the middle of a green, plentiful forest. It looks like something in the Earth Kingdom, but it could also be the Fire Nation. _

_"Where are we?" I ask. A group of young children in white robes run through our bodies and do acrobatic tricks in the air. _

_"We are in a village very deep in the middle of the Pure Forest." _

_"I've never heard of it." _

_"I'm not surprised," she replies. "The people of this village have not had contact with any other human since the war began." My eyes widen. One hundred years without human contact? How could anyone do that? Sooner or later someone was bound to find them, right? How could a village stay untouched for that long? _

_"I don't understand." _

_"The Pure Forest was founded by the spirits of the Avatars past one hundred years ago," she says. "It is unable to be plotted on any map or spotted by any mere mortal without the assistance of the Avatar." My eyes continue to widen and my mouth opens wide. I try to say words, but nothing comes out. An entire forest made by the Spirits. _

_"Why?" _

_"To preserve the continuity of the Avatar." I watch the children flip and duel each other. It is only now that I see the fluidity in their movements. I see the circular motions. I look intently and I can see the lightness that they have on their feet. No. That isn't possible. That cannot be possible. _

_"Mak and Kila are the founders of Lum Village," she explains. "They have long passed, but the other citizens and their prosperity have continued the race of the Air Nomads for the full duration of Sozin's war." A smile comes to my lips. My people, they're alive? I'm not the last airbender? I feel a tear escape my eye. _

_Avatar Yangchen extends her arm and we are all of the sudden taken to a beach. I see a woman, about 18, walking down the beach. She has a sinister smirk on her face and as she gets closer, I recognize her. It's Azula. I gasp. She's out of the asylum? She must have escaped, because Zuko wouldn't dare let her out. _

_"She has become a danger," Yangchen explains. "Your friend, Master Katara, carries the gem with her that determines the balance between the Pure Forest's survival and complete annihilation. You must get to Kyoshi Island before Princess Azula does." Avatar Yangchen pulls her arm back, cutting the scene. We are back in the clouded room. "Find Master Katara and deliver the gem to the Pure Forest." I bow. _

The scene fades and I open my eyes. I am back at the Eastern Air Temple with Guru Pathik. I look at him with a worrisome look. Azula is coming to Kyoshi Island? She must be after this gem that Katara has. I have to go protect Katara. That's the only way to keep her safe. Then, I will worry about the gem. But for now, Katara is all that matters.

"I have to go." I say.

"Yes," Pathik replies. "I understand."

"You wouldn't believe what I-"

"I do not need to know," Pathik cuts me off. "All that matters is that you do whatever you must do. As the Avatar, duty comes before personal judgment in every situation." I nod. I can't do this alone. I need someone. I need guidance. Then it hits me.

"How long has it been since you left this temple?" I ask.

"About one hundred and three years now, I believe," he replies. "Why do you ask?" I smile.

"Would you like to join me on my journey?" I could really use the guidance and if anything happens, I'll have a spiritual point of view. I am a spiritual monk, but he has years of experience. I could use it.

"Well," he says. "I don't see what harm it could do." He smiles at me and my face lights up. I stand up and gesture toward the bison stables.

"We need to leave now." Pathik nods and follows me to the stables. We find Appa with ease. He is chewing on some peaches from a tree beside the stables. Once he sees me, he runs over, all ten tons of him, and jumps on top of me. He licks my face and I smile.

"You want to go for a trip, buddy?" I ask. Appa roars and I help Pathik into his saddle. I hop onto his head and snap the reigns. I need to get to Kyoshi Island. I just need to get there soon. "Yip yip."

* * *

AZULA'S POV

_PRESENT TIME_

I am shaken awake by a blast of thunder. I sit up and look out of hole in my crate. As soon as I am sure that I am alone, I kick off the top of the crate and step out. I walk over to the edge of the barred side of the ship. It is raining slowly over the water and the sky is dark. This fucking ship needs to get to Kyoshi Island fast. I will not tolerate this wait any longer.

I sit down and light a flame in my palm. Soon, I will come face to face with my prey. That filthy brat peasant Katara will be in my grasp. I cannot wait to light her body aflame. I hear a sound and I crawl over to the side of my crate. I hear footsteps enter the room. By the sound of them, they are coming from a single person. I look from behind the crate and, as I thought, only one guard is patrolling the room. Her armor is very form fitting and her helmet covers her face. She is obviously a firebender because that is the standard Fire Navy uniform for female firebenders. Fantastic. I could use a stretch of my legs. Once she walks around to my end, I make myself visible. I hear her gasp.

"Well," I say. "Hello there." She shoots a blast of fire at me and I jump to the side. Wow, that was a nice shot. She tries again and again. I dodge every single attempt and rip her helmet off. I get a good look at her and realize that she is quite young. Good. Her suit will fit me better. I light a flame in my fist and punch her in the face. The impact of the fire causes her hair to catch on fire. She starts to scream, but I shoot fire down her windpipe. She tries to move, but I kick her down onto her ass. She is a decent fighter. She should be honored that I am taking her uniform. When I am sure that she is dead, I strip her of her armor in full. I push her body through one of the bars and she falls into the water. I smile and disrobe. This was just too easy. I dress in the armor and put the helmet on. I make sure to have my hair tucked in and I shut the top to my crate. I will have no use of it anymore.

I walk out of the room and make my way down the halls. Not a single soldier notices anything different or strange. Fantastic. I smirk. They are all such fools. I have fooled them into thinking that I am a mere patroller on this ship. Ha! Don't make me laugh. I work my way to the observing deck, where I see the sailing officer addressing the Captain.

"Sir," I hear the sailor say. "We are about a few hours from Chin Village. There is a port around the side that we should pull into." I keep listening, hoping for something substantial. "We will be entering Kyoshi waters soon, sir," he continues. "I do not think it's wise to pull into the nearest port to them. I hear they have bad blood with Chin."

"Good point, sailor." he says. "I will pull us into Chin's furthest port within the hour." So, Kyoshi Island is nearby. Good. I do not require this transport anymore. I turn around and walk eloquently down a level to the deck. It has stopped raining, so there are a few soldiers on deck. I cannot just bolt off here. They would follow me to Kyoshi. I need to find a quick getaway with little to no repercussions. I smile when I see the anchor hole. Oh, this will be fun. I walk over to the anchor hole and playfully move around. I pretend to stumble over to the edge of the ship and a few of the other soldiers come over to help me. I dramatically wave my arms around and fall overboard. Just before I hit the water, I blast myself forward. I land in the water, but I stay under/ When I'm sure that they think I'm dead, I pull my head up and sure enough, they are moving on. I smirk and start swimming. From what the sailor said, it would take that ship an hour to get by Kyoshi waters. That means that I could get there by swimming in double that time. Shit. I'll have to find some way to-

I bump into something. It's a thick board of wood. Who in the hell leaves wood in the middle of the ocean. I roll my eyes and step onto it. I lay flat and try to dry myself off with a few breaths of fire. When I feel like I'm dry enough, I stand up and kick off of the board. Fire erupts from my feet and I am flying. I fly high enough that no one can possibly see me. Kyoshi will only be in my grasp in a matter of minutes.

* * *

KATARA'S POV

I am sitting on my bed when I hear a knock at my door. Io walks into my room and smiles at me. She still has that nervous atmosphere about her and I wonder so bad why that is. I remember the conversation that Yin and I had the night before about her and from what I gathered of it, Io is just a quiet girl getting to know her abilities. Maybe her novice position is what is making her so nervous. I don't know, but I'll be sure to make an effort to bring her out of her box.

"Yes," I say to her. "What is it, Io?"

"W-W-We have pulled into port, Master Katara." I smile at her.

"Okay," I reply. "Give me a minute." I grab the bag of clothes from the corner and strap it on my back. I see Io is still standing in the doorway.

"We will be on deck waiting for you, Master Katara."

"It's okay," I sat. "I'll come up now. This is all I need. And just call me Katara. I may be your teacher, but that doesn't mean that we have to so formal." She smiles at me and we walk up to the deck. Yin and Onyx are waiting for us. I see Onyx jump from the metal floor and flick his hair.

"Finally," he says. "I've been dying to get off of this boat!" We all laugh and start walking off of the ship. I look around and realize where we are.

"Why are we on Kyoshi Island?" I ask one of the soldiers.

"To get your brother and bring him to the palace with you," he says stoically. "It saves an extra ship." We walk down a path and into the village. I smile as I see Mayor Oyagi, eating a rice cake by the statue of Avatar Kyoshi. Part of me was always curious about her. She was two Avatars before Aang. From what I had put together from what we found out through our travels, she was more of a blunt, Toph-Like Avatar. Nothing like Aang in the slightest.

That was part of the reason we broke it off. It was because of the nomadic lifestyle, yes, but also because of how innocent he is. Sure, he was only twelve when I met him, but he is still, from what I saw, a child. I mothered him for our entire journey and our entire relationship. I almost felt awkward about kissing him. That's why it is better that I'm alone now. Being a single person meant that I still had time to find my soulmate, and I wasn't in the mood to waste my life looking for him.

I walk over to Oyagi and bow.  
"Good afternoon, Oyagi," I say. "How are you?" He bows back to me, but then pulls me in for a hug.

"I am fantastic, Katara," he replies in an ecstatic voice. "How long has it been? A year?" He's right. It has been a year. I smile and introduce my students.

"Guys," I say. "This is Mayor Oyagi. He's a good friend of mine. Oyagi, this is Io, Yin, and Onyx." The three of them bow and he bows in return. He gives me a proud look and nods.

"Wonderful to meet your students," he says. "Sokka told me about your new title!" We laugh and I decide that we really need to get going. Any second, Azula could be on our tail.

"Look, Oyagi," I say. "We've come to-"

"I know why you're here," he says. "Your brother is already packed and ready. He and Suki are up in the warriors den now." I nod and start to walk up. I motion for my students to follow. We walk up the path and make it to the dojo. It is a little larger than I remember and I can see my brother through the doorway. He is joking around with the warriors and swinging his sword around. We managed to find his sword and boomerang in the Wu Long Forest after the battle with ease. Toph just used her seismic sense and in no time, we found them both in the dirt. Sokka was more than pleased.  
I walk up to the door and knock on the wood. At first, I think that I am going to be attacked by Sokka with hugs, but no. No, no. I get attacked by someone pinker. Ty Lee cartwheels in, all dolled up in pink with her braid swinging in the air. She pulls me into a bearhug, nearly crushing my spine. Dear Yue, this training has really beefed her up.

"Katara!" she squeals. "How are you? Oh, my god! Your skin is so flawless! You have to tell me all about how your teaching has been! Anyone cute under your wing?" I smile and laugh. She's so fluffy and I love that about her. Azula apparently never really got into Ty Lee's style of life and neither did Mai, so she was all alone until she met me. I remember thinking that finally, a girly girl is in the group. Suki could be girly, but she was more of Toph's kind of woman. Within a second, Ty Lee is torn off of me and I am being embraced by my slightly beefier brother. His muscles have grown out a little and he's got a little stubble.

"It's so good to see you, Katara," he says. "When are we leaving?"  
"Now," I say. "If possible." Sokka nods. I look to see Suki sitting on a chair in the corner. "Is Suki coming?"

"No," Sokka replies. "She's got to stay here and train the warriors. I begged her, but she keeps insisting on staying." He rolls his eyes and blows her a kiss. She waves to me and blows him a kiss goodbye. We walk out of the dojo and hear an explosion. The warriors all jump and grab their fans. I look down toward the town and see a bright blue flame in the distance. My heart stops. I fall to my knees. Onyx and Yin come to assist me, but I can't stand up. She's here. I can't believe she found me so soon. I manage to only speak one word - her name. It leaves a taste of peppered cinnamon on my breath. It makes me feel sick to my stomach with every syllable. Her name only means death when put in the setting of combat. Fire as blue as her heart.

"Azula."

* * *

**Author's Note: Okay, so I'm only going to write from the perspective of characters besides Azula or Katara once in a while. I just needed it for this one because of how it will tie into the next chapter and the rest of the story. **

**Thanks!**

**Review, Please!**


	4. Chapter 3: All Is Fair In Love & War

**Author's Note: Here's Chapter Three! I've gotten some great reviews, so I'm happy :) Please, continue to review. It helps me out a lot with my writing! **

* * *

AZULA'S POV

I make it to Kyoshi Island with no problem. It took about half an hour longer than I initially thought, but nevertheless, I am here. I walk through the trees and find the village. It is a terribly small village, to my surprise. I thought a village named after an Avatar would be much larger. Oh, well. I saw the Fire Nation ship docked as I came in, so I know she's here. Katara is within my grasp. I walk out into the village. To my surprise, no one makes any gasps or screams. Then, I see three other firebending soldiers here. Oh, great. These citizens think I'm one of them. To assure them that I am not, I begin my hazing of the village by shooting one of the guards in the back with a small flame. He falls, dead. I cackle. The two others turn to me and get into a firebending stance.

"What are you doing?" one of the soldiers said. I remove my helmet and laugh maniacally as I shoot a lightning bolt into his chest.

"I've come for a pretty little water whore," I say. "Now, who wants to give her up"" No one responds, but an old man in a blue robe pulls out a sword.

"Get off of our island, Princess Azula," he screams. "You are not welcome here!"

"Oh," I say. "What a pity! I was really hoping to stay for a vacation!" I shoot a blast of fire into his heart. "It seems like such a lovely place!" I throw a fireball into a cart and blast a lightning bolt into a building, causing an eruption. I jump around, throwing bolt after bolt of lightning into homes and carts. People scream, animals roar. I'm in paradise. One little girl runs up to who I assume to be her mother and cries. I jump down and point my two fingers at her. Little brat reminds me of those hideous little pig-bear cubs. I'll make a carcass out of this mother like I did to the other. Right as I'm about to strike, a fire blot comes past my head. I turn to see the last remaining soldier coming toward me. I shoot him down and turn back to the little family. Oh, they look so frightened. Good. They should be.

I move to strike again, and a whip of water pulls my hand back. Katara. I turn to see that it isn't Katara, but a little girl in a blue robe. She looks to be about my age, give or take a few years. Pathetic girl. One whip won't stop me. I shoot a blast of fire at her and she circles me, throwing ice daggers at me. I dodge every single one and shoot a fire bolt at her. She blocks it with a wall of water, but flies back into a building. Ha! She couldn't even stand her ground! Pathetic.

I finally get the window to attack, but then I'm surrounded by a group of Kyoshi Warriors. Oh, wow. They haven't changed the uniform a bit. I've beaten them before I'll do it-

I see a braid. A familiar braid at that. I make a circle of fire and push the warriors back. They all hit the buildings in the surrounding area and I am left to stare at one individual. Ty Lee.

"I don't want to have to do this, Azula." she says. No. She does want to do this. She wants our friendship to remain over. She wants to see me broken. She hates me. She betrayed me. I lash out with a wave of fire and she cartwheels out of the way. I keep shooting wave after wave of fire at her, trying to catch her off of her game. Eventually, I manage to hit her in the leg. The sound of her yelp makes my skin at ease. I move to make the finishing blow, but that's when I hear a voice. The voice that I have been waiting to hear. And she says my name. Oh, how it makes me tremble when she says my name. I can't wait to gut her throat with a fire knife. Katara.

"Azula," I hear her yell. "Stop. It's me you want, isn't it?" I turn to face her.

"Why, yes," I say. "Yes it is."

"Why?"

"What do you mean why?!" I scream. "You took everything from me. Poor little Zuzu would've been dead and gone had you not been there. Had you not been there with your waterbending, I would have been Fire Lord! I would have sat in my rightful place on the throne!" I shoot a blast of fire at her. She dodges it. I shoot blast after blast. "You filthy water whore," I yell. "Stay still and let me fucking kill you! Why couldn't you have just fucking died when I shot the fucking bolt at you the first time around!" I throw a wave of fire at her, but she blocks it. "You couldn't have just died," I lash out a wave of fire again and again, making a complete inferno. "You just had to let your little boyfriend take the shock for you! Well, Zuzu isn't here to save you now! DIE!" I throw a lightning bolt at her and she makes a wall of ice to stop it. I hear the bolt crash into the wall, but I only see her fly back into a building. That bitch. Why won't she just die already?!

I move to attack the building, but the grass under me freezes. I turn my head to see a girl, around my age, standing there. Another waterbender. How many of these little shits are there? I shoot a bolt of lightning at her, and she runs from it. She throws a wave of water at me, and I shoot myself up from the ground. I punch balls of fire down onto the little brat. She blocks one of them, and avoids all of the others. When I land back on the ground, I knock the little shit on her ass with a kick to the stomach. No fire behind it, but it was enough to knock her back far enough to focus back on where I knew Katara to be. I see her struggle to get out of the building and I take my opportunity to charge up some lightning. Just then, I am thrown back by a water whip to the stomach. I look up to see someone that I didn't expect. No. No. There was no way that he could be here. Why does he have to come every time I'm so close to killing that little water whore.

"Zuzu," I say. "How wonderful of you to save me the time of hunting you down!" I shoot a bolt at him but he dodges it and throws a wave of water at me. I move out of the way. No, this isn't Zuzu. It's a doppelganger. Oh, how clever is he? Ha, ha! Good one, Zuzu. Point for you, but point for me for killing your little girlfriend after I slaughter this little shit. The two of us duel for a few minutes, but we stop when I am knocked back onto my back. It is then that I am forced back by the sight of the Kyoshi Warriors. Wait.

You must stay vigilant at all times.

I jump out of the way just in time as Ty Lee jumps down to attack. I fend them off and send them all flying into buildings once again.

"Now," I announce. "If everyone's tired of playing, I'd like to kill this whore!" I move to shoot a lightning bolt, but I am stopped when a wall of earth raises in front of me. I jump back to see the Avatar standing not even two feet away from me.

"Aang!" I hear Katara call. I move to attack her, but Sokka takes his aim with his sword. I am cornered. Shit. They would do this to me. Killing Katara isn't going to be as easy as I hoped. I give Katara a glare and snicker.

"Tell Zuzu I said hi," I say to her. "And Ty Lee," I turn to face her. She is rubbing her her wound on her leg. "Don't be too worried over that single burn. I'll make a lot more next time I see you!" I shoot myself up in the air. "Ta ta!"

* * *

KATARA'S POV

I watch Azula soar into the sky as the village burns. She was so close to killing me. If Aang hadn't shown up, I would be dead. My students, though a little wounded, faired well against Azula. Onyx in particular. They way he fought was so powerful. He managed to pin her down for a moment.

This was far worse than I had feared. She was really out for blood, and now she was going to come after my students. They fought her, so now they're her enemy. I am barely standing up when Aang runs over to me. He looks a little taller, and he has filled out a little. We hug and he helps me stand up.

"Are you okay?" he asks me.

"Yeah," I say. "I'm fine, Aang. It's nice to see you." I see Appa land right beside us and a man jumps down from his head. He is tall with dark shin and a white beard. Aang walks me over to Appa and I kneel against his side.

"Hello," the man says to me. "My name is Guru Pathik."

"Pleased to meet you," I say. "I'm-"

"Master Katara," he says. "Aang has told me much about you. You are more beautiful in person." I blush. So, this is the man that Aang went to train with. He had to be around 150 years old or more, but he was a sweet guy.

"Thank you." He is about to respond when Onyx and Yin come running over, with close behind. I get a mix of "Katara"s and "are you alright"s all at once. I hush them down and nod. "I'm fine." Sokka walks over to me and sits down next to me.

"You did good sis," he says. "Proud of you." I give him a hug and out of nowhere, Suki speaks up.  
"Katara," she says. "I think it might be a good idea for you to take Appa to the palace. The girls and I just looked down by the port. Your ship is completely destroyed." Aang helps me onto my feet.

"Yeah," I say. "You have a point. It would take forever to get another ship, and plus, who knows when Azula will be back for another round." Everyone nods at the same time and I look to Aang. "Are you okay with taking us to the Fire Nation?"

"Look," he says to me. "Either way, I'm going with you to the Fire Nation. If it's by boat or on Appa. I'm not letting you out of my sight." Oh, shit. I nod and he lifts me onto Appa. Everyone else comes into the saddle and Aang sits on the head. With a "yip yip", we're in the air.

I look down at Kyoshi and see the charred buildings and burned statue. I cannot belive that she found me. Was it just luck on her part, or has she been following me the whole time? The thought of her constantly on my tail scares me in every way. I just need to get to the Fire Nation. Maybe, when I get there, she'll finally be caught.

I take a moment to look around at everyone in the saddle. Io and Yin are huddled up next to each other, Sokka is catching up with Aang and Guru Pathik is meditating by himself. I see Onyx is sitting in the corner, keeping to himself and I scoot over.

"Nice job," I say to him. "You really fought well today." That's an understatement. Given a few more minutes, he could have probably taken her down. I remind myself to congratulate Pakku on his teaching.

"Thanks." Onyx says back. His voice is very deadpan, like he doesn't really care. He just nearly took down one of the, if not the most powerful firebender in the world. How can he not be happy about that?

"You three saved my life," I say to them. "I'm really grateful. I just want you guys to know that." They smile and we share a look for a second before they go back to their business. I hear someone call my name and I see Aang looking at me.

"Can you come up to the front with me," he says. "I have to ask you some things." Oh, great. Here we go. I knew this was going to happen. I had a feeling we were going to have this talk at some point. I walk over to the front and move to sit on Appa's head. There's a minute of silence before Aang decides to break the ice.

"So," His voice just screams the awkward in the air. "How have you been this past year?" I smile a little, but inside, I practically want to throw myself off of this bison. This is such an awkward situation. It's been a year since I've seen him. He obviously still has feelings for me, but I, well, don't know if I feel the same.

"I've been okay," I say. "I have my students now, so that's going to keep me busy. But other than that, it's just been constant working."

"That's sounds fun," he replies, trying to keep the conversation going. "Guru Pathik and I have been working so much that I have really lost the taste for that onion and banana juice." He laughs innocently and I feel myself look the other way. He's still such a kid. Nothing's changed. I've become, for lack of better terms, a woman now, and he's still practically a little boy.

"Well," I say. "I'm glad you guys have been getting things done." I smile, but not in my normal way. Not in the way that I would if Sokka cracked a joke that didn't work or if I just felt happy. It was in a motherly way, a forced smile. I just, I can't get the thought of how I view Aang out of my head. When we were traveling the world, I always used to give him encouragement and a kiss on the cheek at the most, but that's what a parent does, not a girlfriend. Surely, not a wife. There was a lack of intimacy that just made even being around each other awkward.

"So," I ask. "How long do you think it will take to get to the palace in one flight?"

"We can't," he replies. "We'll have to camp at some point in the Fire Nation, but I'm thinking that we'll only have to camp once. After that, we'll be home free. Do we need to pick up anyone else?"

"No," I say. "Toph is already at the palace and that's about it." Oh, that'll be a joy. Toph always teased me on my motherly actions and she would always say that Aang and I were going to break up. She wouldn't say it to him, no, but when she and I were alone, she'd tease me and tease me about it.

"Katara," His tone is a little serious. "Can we talk about something?" Shit. No, no. I don't want to have this conversation on a bison in the middle of the air nearly a mile or two above the ocean. No way. But I cave.

"Yeah," I say in a defeated voice. "Sure." He still hasn't picked up that I'm not into this at all? Wow, there's oblivious Aang for you.

"When we, you know, split up," he says, his voice really timid. "Did you really mean it when you said it was only a break or is it for good?" His voice is so child-like and innocent that the answer just flies out of me. I can't help it.

"For good," I say. I see his eyes go wide for a minute. He's shocked? This is going to be harder than I thought. "Look, Aang. I don't want to be mean about it or anything, but we're just not compatible."

"Yes, we are," I hear him say. I've turned my head the other way, because I don't want to see him cry. "We like the same things and we could have a great life together!"

"Doing what," I ask. "Playing airball and traveling the world? You've got your nomadic lifestyle and I want to settle down." I feel the real truth coming out faster and faster. "There are some things that I need that I don't think could work with you and I." No, no. Be honest with him. I need to be honest with him. "I think of you more like a little-" I stop myself. I can't use those words. I remember that god-awful play three years ago about our journey and the scene in the Crystal Catacombs. My actor said that Aang was like a little brother to her and that she had no romantic feelings for him at all. While that is true, I don't want to say those exact words. I could really break him.

"Like a little brother?" he asks. "C'mon Katara, tell me the truth. I can take it." Screw it. I'll have to tell him the truth sooner or later.

"Yes," I say. "Like a little brother. I didn't want to say it because of what happened that that play all of those years ago. I didn't want to upset you." I see him tear up a little as he looks out into the cloud bank. We're now flying above the clouds. I can't look at him. I just cant. I turn my head to the side and watch the clouds.

"It's okay," I can hear him sniff a little. He's crying. "At least I know now. I just need you to tell me one thing." I turn my head to look at him. Yeah. He's crying.

"Yeah," I say. "Sure. What is it?"

"Is there someone else?"

"What?" Someone else?

"Is that what spawned these feelings," he asks. "Do you have romantic feelings for someone else?"

"No," I quickly answer. "I just can't be with you because you're like my brother. We're like family. It's weird." Aang nods and I look down at the clouds below. "I'm going to go check on my students," I say. "I'm sorry, Aang."

"It's fine, Katara," he responds in a deadpan tone once again. "You had to be honest." I nod and crawl back into the saddle. I don't notice that I'm crying until I sit down. Everyone has fallen asleep in the saddle except for Onyx and Guru Pathik, but Pathik is meditating, so he's kind of in the sleeping group. I pull my knees up to my chest and feel myself tear up even more. I made him cry. I'm such a horrible person. No, I was honest. He needed to know. I'm so caught in thought that I don't even notice Onyx sit next to me. He puts his hand on my shoulder and I jump a little.

"Sorry to frighten you," he says. "Are you okay?" I nod, even though I'm feeling the exact opposite of okay. He picks up on my lie and takes a deep breath. "Well," he says. "Try to get some sleep. Sleep always makes me feel better." I smile at him and lay my head on the saddle. I watch Onyx move back to his spot and I can't help but think of Zuko as I look at him. I can't help thinking about what he may be doing right now in the palace. Would he find out about her attack on Kyoshi? Probably. That's his job. I keep thinking about him and then I remember the fight with Azula. When she was yelling at me, she kept referencing Zuko as my boyfriend. She kept talking about him like he and I were together. Obviously, that isn't the case, but what would make her get that idea? I rack my brain for a memory and then it hits me.

The lightning bolt. He took that bolt for me. Azula probably mistook that as him sacrificing himself so that I could live for romantic reasons, but that wasn't the case. Zuko doesn't love me like that. There os no way in hell that he could love me. He had Mai. I saw them together at his coronation. She is going to be , if not already, his Fire Lady or whatever they call the queen.

Even if he dies love me, I don't love him back. We are good friends, nothing more. I mean, he's a sweet guy and all, but I can't see myself with him. He's a firebender. My father would kill me. It's not just that either. It's the whole past thing with us. Even though he's proved himself, I still find myself thinking about the Crystal Catacombs in Ba Sing Se. When he and I were imprisoned together, we grew close and when the time came, he turned his back on me. Well, he turned his back on everyone to join his sister, not just me. It still feels like a personal thing though, but I don't know why. I mean, if there was ever a time where I felt something for Zuko, it was probably then, but any trace of that is gone now, right?

I sit and think about the night of Sozin's Comet. I think about when I he took that bolt of lightning. I think about the things that he was trying to tell me on Appa before the Agni Kai. Was he going to confess feelings? No, of course not. He would have said something after the Agni Kai. Hell, he would have said something before the Agni Kai. Wait. My mind travels back to the exact moment before the lightning hit him. He was trying to tell me something and I couldn't understand it. Maybe that was it. No. No, no, no. There is no way in hell that he is in love with me. But am I in love with him? No, we're just friends, right? I think about how my heart stopped when I thought I lost him that night. Wrong.

* * *

ZUKO'S POV

_THREE HOURS LATER_

I pace in my throne room. I shoot a fireball at one of the pillars and let out a fiery growl. Where the hell is Katara? Her ship should have checked in by now. They should have reached the blockade by now! I shoot another large flame. My lunatic sister is on the loose and Katara thinks it's okay to just take her good old time coming? No. I remind myself that Katara is smarter than that. She knows the dangers of Azula. She's probably almost in the Fire Nation. Why her ship's Captain hasn't checked in is beyond me. When I get a hold of that man I'll-

"Damn, Sparky," I hear a high-pitch voice say. "Who left the heat on in here?" Toph. She walks over to me and shoots her arm up. The metal on the floor bumps a little and I shoot up a foot in the air. I fall flat on my ass and she sits next to me.

"Why'd you do that?!" I yell.

"You need to calm down, Sparky," she says. "Your little temper tantrums are going cause a worldwide volcanic eruption and I'm not cleaning that up!" I pull my knees up to my chest. "What's got you all hot and bothered?"

"Katara's ship hasn't checked in yet," I confess. "I'm just worried that maybe Azula got to her." Images of Katara being attacked enter my mind and my anger fuels. I swear if Azula touches a hair on her fucking head I'll-

"I can feel your heartbeat, Prince Hothead," Toph says. "Just being around you is making me sweat." She punches me roughly. "I'm sure Katara is perfectly fine. She knows how to handle herself." She's right. I take a deep breath. Katara is a trained waterbending master. If something were to happen, she could handle herself. I am feeling almost calm when a general runs into the room.

"Your maj-" He sees Toph and I sitting on the ground. I see him shake it off and he hands me a scroll. "Urgent message from Commander Kai on Kyoshi Island." I open the scroll and I see the words written in black ink that make my heart stop.

**Princess Azula sighted on Kyoshi Island. **

**Master Katara and her waterbending students caught in a battle. Avatar Aang managed to arrive and the Princess escaped. **

**Master Katara and all of her passengers accounted for. They are now traveling with the Avatar. Should be arriving within the week.**

**Commander Kai**

**Kyoshi Island**

No. She found Katara. My mind is in such a whirlwind of emotions that I don't even notice Toph ask me what happened. I handed her the letter.

"Shithead," she says to me. "I'm blind, remember?" I mentally kick myself. Of course, I forgot.

"Azula found Katara and attacked her on Kyoshi Island," I say with a pit in my stomach. "I don't know why they was there, but Aang showed up and managed to drive her off. They're now coming here on Appa." I see Toph's eyes widen and she shoots up a foot in the air from one of the metal tiles. She lands on her feet and grabs the general by the collar.

"Listen, peabrain," she says, with poison in her voice. "When the Avatar comes with Katara, I want them welcomed with a guard. Have them as protected as possible, do I make myself clear?" The general nods and steps back a little.

"Yes, Grandmaster Toph," he says. "My Lord, do you agree with these commands." I see Toph start to get angry and I take charge. I walk the general into the hallway.  
"You must follow my instructions exactly how I say them," I say. "Am I understood?" My voice has a hint of a deadly spike that reminds me partially of my father. No, No. I am nothing like him. I never will be.

"Yes, your Highness." the general replies. I take a deep breath before giving my orders.

"When they arrive," I say. "The Avatar and his friends will have rooms prepared for them in the Dark Wing." I see him start to say something, but I continue, keeping him quiet. "I want you to ready the rooms as soon as humanly possible. But make Master Katara's room in the Royal Wing nearest to mine. I want you to send her directly to me when she gets here. Guard her with every man available." I let my voice drop to a growl. "If anything happens to her, I will hold you personally accountable," I say. "Do I make myself clear, General?" I see him tremble. It looks as if he fears for his life. I don't want him to feel that way, but this is Katara's safety we are talking about. I will take all measures necessary. I need to keep her safe.

"Yes, your majesty," he says back to me. "I will have the rooms prepared and the guards briefed." He bows and runs off. I flare my arms back, releasing flames through my hands. How could Azula have known where they were? Come to think of it, why were they on Kyoshi? I remind myself that Sokka is living down there with Suki. Of course, he's her brother. She was probably worried about him, so she went there to get him. But that doesn't explain how Azula knew to go to Kyoshi Island. I think for possible reasons why when it hits me. Ty Lee. The Kyoshi Warriors. She went for Ty Lee and found Katara. It all makes sense now. I'm just glad that Katara's okay. I don't know what I'd do if-

"Sparky," I hear a voice say from behind me. It's Toph. "Where'd your little meathead soldier go? I need a punching bag." I turn and look at her with my emotions clearly expressed on my face. I can practically feel the worry in my eyes.

"He's preparing for Katara's arrival," I say. "As well as everyone else." I take a deep breath. "What's got you so worked up?" I hear Toph dramatically exhale and I chuckle slightly.

"Twinkletoes and Sweetness are coming together." She stresses the last word, making my heart stop and my skin crawl. Of course they are. They must still be a couple. Perfect, just perfect.

"Yeah?" I say, trying to keep it cool.

"It just pisses me off," she says. "For the same reason it pisses you off." I have to stop and catch my breath. No, she doesn't know. It's not that obvious.

"I don't know what-"  
"Oh, blow it out your ass, Sparky," she cuts me off. "Ever since you and Katara came back from that little field trip of yours three years ago, your heart rate goes through the roof with the mention of her name, let alone when you're around her." Damn. I really need to keep my composure. If Toph could sense it through my heartbeat, I wonder what it looks like on my face.

"So how are my feelings for Katara pissing you off?"  
"It's not that," she says. "For all I could give a shit about, you and Katara could make little steam children all over the world. It's Aang." I'm confused. Why would Aang coming with Katara bother her? Unless.. No. No way. Toph did not have anything for Aang. From what I notice every time we're all together, she's focused on Sokka. If anything, that's who she's got feelings for, right? I look at her as she just blankly stares into the air. She always does that, because she's blind, but this time, it almost seems like she's truly lost. I wrap my arm around her shoulder and pull her into a half-hug.

"It seems you and I _are _in the same boat." I say.

"Yep," she says back, a little sadness in her voice. "And once they get here, the sinking will just keep getting worse and worse." I look down to my feet and then to her.

"I hope not." I turn around and walk back into my throne room. I walk to the throne, tile by tile. When I finally sit down, I look out at the emptiness. Who am I kidding? Katara loves Aang. They're probably going to get married and have some airbending children. Obviously, I'm not going to fit in that equation. I just have to learn to get used to it. She's going to get here, and I will keep her safe. But the whole time, just as Toph said, the sinking will get worse. "I hope not."

* * *

**Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Some Zutara and Taang feels. :) **

**Please, review!  
Thanks for reading!**


	5. Chapter 4: Held Together By Strings

**Author's Note: Here's chapter four. Some major stuff happens in this chapter that's really going affect the next few chapters. **

**Thanks for the amazing reviews, guys. I'm so happy that you guys like it!**

* * *

AZULA'S POV

I have been following them for exactly two days now. The bison stops every now and again to rest, but they're always back and up within the hour. I do not strike because, for lack of better words, I cannot. Their numbers are strong. There is only one of me, obviously, but there are exactly seven of them. Granite, the old man with them looks to be inferior in the combative forms, but the other six could easily stand a chance against me if I were to strike. It takes reaching the second day for me to finally come to the conclusion that I need assistance. I need help.

I break apart from their trail when we reach a large forest near a small village. It looks to be a small market village with the essentials. Small buildings, a forest, and an mountain nearby. I do not catch the name of the village, but I don't care. I am not going to be here for long. There is no need for this.

I am trying to fall asleep in a tree when I hear a whistle in the wind. I jump down immediately and ready myself for combat. When I find the area where the whistle came from, I shoot at it. Nothing happens. I watch as the bushes start to open up with slight fear. Why is my bending malfunctioning? I will not tolerate this. I can't even create one measly fire ball? I'm not that weak. I'm not-

I silence all thought when I see The Dark Spirit walk out of the bushes on two legs. Of course. That's why my bending didn't work. Fucking spirits. I swear, if I had my bending, the things I would do to this son of a-

"Princess," she says. "You now see that your task is unreachable alone." She walks closer to me and I step back a few feet. I haven't given this spirit any reason to harm me, but with my bending on the deteriorated side for the moment, I tread lightly. "You will never accomplish that in which you wish to accomplish without using that which flaws your target," she says. "Do you understand?"

"Yes," I say. "But Katara is too protected. She doesn't have a weakness that I can spot at the present time." It is true. She has the Avatar by her side, along with all of the others. Even when she and I dueled on Kyoshi Island, I didn't see even a hint of a weakness. If there was something, I would have noticed it.

"The one you wish to end has a weakness," The Dark Spirit replies. "One that you do not know of. It was spawned three years ago, in this very village." This village? What would Katara know of a Fire Nation village? She is a water whore and that only. That's what she knows. It doesn't matter of her worldly travels. Even this pathetic little village is higher above what she should know of. "It is the one weakness that will break her on the first try," she says. "Then you will have your gateway in."

"Something in this village is the key to breaking my prey?"

"Not something," she says. "Someone." Now I'm curious.

"Tell me more."

* * *

KATARA'S POV

The journey has been a long one so far for Appa. Two days of on and off flying and we finally are settling down for camp. Aang makes us our individual tents and everyone heads to bed. For some reason, even after sleeping for hours on Appa, everyone's still tired when we land. Aang and Sokka are busy making a fire when I walk down to the water. The area where we've made camp has a small river about twenty feet away. It's close enough that they'll be able to find me, but it's far enough that I can hear myself think. Things have been so crazy in this past week that I can barely keep my thoughts in check. I sit, all day, thinking about what might come at me next.

I can't help but wonder how Azula found me. There was no reasonable explanation of why I would be there except for to get Sokka, but I doubt she knew that I knew that she escaped. It is all so confusing and I've just been trying to keep it all together.

I pull a stream of water and stretch it with my hands. Feeling the water in my grip just cools my blood. It makes me feel so alive; so full. For once, I'm in control of something. I can't control how life is going to go. I can't control the things that happen to me, but I know one thing that I can control is the water in front of me. I throw the stream of water into the river with my eyes closed. When I hear the crash, I gasp. I can see the ripples, but my eyes are closed. I decide to experiment with this a little further.

I think of the water in the air. I stretch my fingers out and I can feel the water forming. Then, I can see it. I can sense the ripples in the water. I open my eyes and sure enough, there are approximately one hundred or more droplets of water floating in front of me. I close my eyes again and throw them up far into the air. I can feel them as they go higher and higher up until a certain point, minutes later, I can't feel them. I open my eyes. This is crazy. Is this like what Toph does to "see"? If so, I can see how it pays off. I'd really love to ask her questions about it right now, but she isn't here. Then it hits me. But Aang is!

I run back to camp, yelling for Aang. I see him sitting in front of the fire, feeding the flame with small bursts of fire. He hears me and turns around. I sit down next to him, breathing heavily from the run.

"Aang," I say. "You have to come with me. I need your help with something." I can see the stone cold look on his face. He's still upset over our official breakup. I didn't mean to hurt him this bad. He can't even look at me. He can't even respond to me. I call his name again and he just looks at me, his eyes saying what I know he can't verbalize. He wants me to walk away. He wants me to just go to bed. I understand. He needs his time to heal. I start to turn around and walk away, but then I hear Aang's voice call out to me.

"Katara," he says. "What do you need my help with?" I back around and shrug slightly. I should be as casual and friendly as possible. He's still hurt. Maybe if I reintroduce the idea of maintaining a friendship, he'll perk up.

"Just something pretty cool I just learned by accident," I reply. "I just need some help understanding some of Toph's seismic sense and you're the only other person who really knows how to use it." I see his head cock to the side in confusion and I start to walk toward the area of the river.

"Follow me," I say. "I'm still trying to figure it out, so it works better with a larger amount of water." Aang follows me and we walk down the path. I keep my head turned away from him, but I can practically feel him looking at me. This is so awkward, and I don't want it to be. Mother of Agni, how do I get myself in these situations?

We reach the river.

"Wow," I hear Aang say. "I didn't even know this was here."

"Yeah," I reply. "It's really something." I look over to Aang and we lock eyes for a second. I feel uncomfortable. I see him in a family light, but he sees me in the exact opposite. Safe to say, it's one big storm of awkward. I stumble a little before getting down to business.

"So," I say. "What are the basics of the sense?" Aang gives a deflated expression, but immediately wipes it off of his face, returning to the same half-content-half-cold look. It's so sad, yet horrible of me at the same time. I'm the reason for this. I'm the reason that Aang can't fully smile.

"Actually," he replies. "I want to know a little more about this waterbending technique you were talking about?" He moves the water a little with his hand, just to try easing the tension. It fails. You could cut the tension in this area with a knife.

"I discovered it by accident," I explain. "I closed my eyes and when the water rippled off of the river, I saw the pulse. Even though I couldn't actually see it, I "saw" it, if that makes any sense." I see Aang make a curious face. He pulls some water from the river and moves it around a little. He closes his eyes and then throws it back into the water, his eyes still closed. When it crashes, I see his eyes open wide.

"It's almost the exact same feeling as the earthbending form!" His voice is ecstatic. He's more excited than I am. "This is fantastic!" He gets into a horse stance. "Close your eyes." he says to me. I do so. "Now," he says. "Try and visualize the water." I breath in and out. I can see the small little pulses of the water, but it's faint. I concentrate harder. I slow my breathing a little. Wait. No. I can see the water's outline, but it's not just that. I can see Aang. But not just his outline. I can see the veins in his body. I can see his heartbeat. I can see the pulse of his blood. My mind travels back to that witch, Hama. She took control of people against their will. She contorted bodies for revenge. She bent the blood inside of people. She was a monster. She was no better than Azula.

Part of me feels comforted by the thought of Hama back in prison. I could not feel right letting someone use their bending for pure hate and revenge like that. By now, she has probably died. I have heard from my dad that the prisons of the Fire Nation aren't too kept, so a woman of her age can't last very long. It's terrible to think like that, but at least I can rest soundly now for the most part about her. Now, all I have to worry about is Azula. Though I try not to show it, I am scared to death of what she could do to me. I had only gotten a taste of her new sense of power, and safe to say, I wasn't going to fight her alone, ever.

"This is bigger than I ever could have imagined, Aang." I say. "It's freaky."

"It's fantastic!" he says back. "This way, we won't be completely blind to an attack! Katara, you're a genius!" He grabs me by the arms and pulls me in for a hug. I hug him back, feeling like our friendship is getting back where it needs to be. But, no. We pull apart and he goes in to kiss me. I feel a shot of adrenaline and anger flood into my body. I can feel my blood pumping and I push him off of me. But the thing is, without realization, I bended him back. But I didn't see any water fly. There wasn't any steam or ice either. My hands didn't even make contact with him. The look of horror that Aang gives me validates what I was already trying to deny in my mind. I bloodblended him.. I used bloodbending out of anger. I stumble back and fall onto my ass.

"Aang," I plead with him. "I didn't mean to-" He's already running up the hill as I start my apology. Before I can think, I'm in tears. I bloodbended out of rage. I did the most vile form of bending to exist on the guy that I considered to be my best friend; a guy that I considered to be like family.

* * *

AZULA'S POV

"Tell me more." I say, the curiosity pouring from my body. If there is someone that can bring that little whore down, I would find them and make them break her. Whoever it is will be my servant and do as I wish.

"It all started sixty three years ago," she says. "In the Southern Water Tribe." My mind draws a blank. The Southern Water Tribe? The connection makes sense between the two because they're both obviously water savages, but aren't they all about family love and that bullshit? "The Fire Nation's first raid on the village-"

"Yes," I say. "I studied that battle. All of the waterbenders were captured and takes from their snow wasteland." I get a snarky look from the Dark Spirit and I look down. If I want to know the secret to Katara's downfall, I must pay attention during this fucking story time. Agni, I feel like I'm a child again, being told myths in bed by my insufferable mother.

"Anyway," she says. "One of the last waterbenders to go down was a woman by the name of Hama. She fought valiantly, but was eventually captured and imprisoned. She was kept away from all water in any way unless bound by chains." I want to say how the bitch must have deserved it to fight against the great and powerful Fire Nation, but I listen in to learn more. "One night," she said. "She noticed the rats around her cage were alive. She noticed that they were filled with.. Liquid."

"Blood," I say. "Yes, all living things are filled with-" I get a glare. Okay, okay. I'll let her finish. Then, I'll have my time for commentary. Sheesh. Mother of Agni.

"As I was saying," The Dark Spirit continued. "Hama discovered that blood was simply just liquid inside of a body, so she learned to manipulate the rats to do her bidding, like a puppetmaster. Once she had mastered the rats, she went for-"

"The men," I finish for her. "My god, that is extraordinary. Who new that waterbenders could be so.. firebender?" I do not get a glare this time, thank you very much. I actually made a praising remark this time, so that's probably why I wasn't being reprimanded like a little child.

"She used their bodies to free herself from her cell and escape imprisonment," she tells. "Once escaped, she assumed an identity as a Fire Nation woman and remained in this village unnoticed. She vowed to get revenge on every single member of the Fire Nation for what happened to her. For years, she would use the full moon's power to bring citizens up the mountain and lock them in the caves to rot." Oh, I am starting to like this woman. Screw her vendetta for the Fire Nation. She and I have a similar way of enacting revenge. We could learn a little from each other.

"So," I say. "How does Katara fit into this?" The Dark Spirit sits down and I hear an exhale of breath. At that moment, she almost seemed human. She almost seemed like she really was not looking forward to this explanation.

"Katara and her friends came upon Hama on their travels through the Fire Nation," she explains. "The two of them became close almost immediately once she found out that they were from the same tribe. Hama taught her about drawing water from grass and trees, and finally, on the full moon, she revealed her bloodbending power to Katara." The Dark Spirit was obviously becoming enraged. Something about this was screwing her the wrong way.

"Let me guess," I say in a sarcastic tone. "She disagreed with Hama and attempted to stop her?"  
"Correct, as always, Princess Azula," she says to me. "Katara attempted and succeeded to break Hama's bloodbending grip and they fought it out until Katara had to save her friends. Hama was going to skewer the Avatar with her brother's sword." My eyebrow raises. Lovely idea. I really enjoy this woman's way of thinking. "Katara had to use bloodbending to stop Hama from killing the Avatar." I bust out laughing. I get a questioning look from The Dark Spirit and I just keep laughing hysterically.

"That's just too perfect," I say between laughs. "The little bitch was forced to do what she was morally against to save the world's last hope for 'peace'. I bet she cried the whole night! I wouldn't be surprised!"

"She succeeded in bloodbending a human on her first try," The Dark Spirit explains. "That is not common in the slightest. Katara has a gift for the ability and she knows it. She used it perfectly about a month later when finding the Fire Navy General who murdered her mother. She had the taste of vengeance on her tongue and she went for it. She would have killed the man, too, had she not realized that she had attacked the wrong man." I smirk. So, Zuzu's little whore isn't as angelic as he thinks. I wonder if the Avatar knows of this. Oh, how lovely would it be to see her cast out from their group! Oh, the pleasure it would bring me to watch her cry before I stomped her face in.

"So," I say. "What do I do with this information?" The Dark Spirit's answer is the obvious one. I could have seen that coming from a mile away.

"You must exploit her darker talents," she says to me. "She constantly tries to suppress it, so having it shoved into her face and exploited will completely tear her to pieces. But you cannot do it alone. Hama must be the one to confront her." I raise an eyebrow.

"But," I say ."Where do I find this Hama?"

"Right here," I hear an elderly voice say from behind the bushes. "The Dark Spirit tells me that you and I have a common goal." An old, frail woman wearing a white and red robe walks out from the bushes. "You may be a dirty firebender," she says. "But I will get my revenge at whatever cost. Even if it means siding with the likes of someone like.. you." She raises her arms and I turn around. I see nothing. She walks beside me and lowers her arms. Birds and squirrels come flying down from the trees, their bodies marred and ripped to pieces.

"I think we have a match made in heaven." I say, a sinister smirk plastered across my face.

* * *

KATARA'S POV

I run up the hill to the campsite and to my surprise, everyone is consolidating Aang by the fire. I can't believe I did that. I'm such a horrible person. The look that Sokka gives me says it all. He's disappointed in me. I look at my students. Io and Yin don't look at me, but Onyx just has a look of genuine shock on his face. I turn around to run away. I keep my eyes closed, trying to keep my tears from falling.

When I make it down to the water, I can feel someone approaching. I turn around to see Onyx come running toward me. This whole "blood-vision" thing is actually coming in handy. I try to walk further, but somehow, I can't move. I look down to see my feet frozen to the ground. I pull the ice off, and by the time I go to move, Onyx is already a foot next to me.

"Katara," he says to me. "Katara, look at me." No. I can't look at anyone after what I did. What I did is unforgivable. I swore. I swore on my mother's name that I would never bloodbend again. I made a vow and I broke it. I disgraced my mother's name. I feel my hand touch her pendent on my neck and the tears keep coming down. I feel a heartbeat and I turn around, only to be pulled into a hug by Onyx. I'm crying so hard that I can't even get a word out. I hear him mumble something reminiscent of "it's okay" and hugs me tight. When he lets go, I look into his eyes and for a moment, they aren't their usual gray. They are gold. A shining gold. Almost exactly like Zuko's. Oh, Agni. What would he think of what I have done? If he had any feelings for me whatsoever they would be gone. No one wants to be with a bloodbender. It's disgusting, vile, and cruel. I pull away from Onyx in full and let myself bury my head into my knees.

"We'll be leaving at dawn to the palace," I hear him say to me. "We should be on Ember Island by tomorrow night." I nod from in my lap and I can feel his heartbeat skyrocket as he gets closer to me. He leans in and I can hear him whisper in my ear. "It's going to be fine," he says. "You're not alone. Even though you think you are, you're not." I lift my head up and try to feel for him around, but he's unreadable. I turn around and he's gone back to camp. I look down into the river and watch the rushing water. I look at my reflection. I have grown so much from when I discovered Aang. I look so much more like my mother. It's almost scary how our faces are becoming nearly identical. I put my head in my hands.

"I'm so sorry, Mom," I say. "I never meant to disgrace you like this. I need your guidance. I need something to point me in the right direction. I just don't know what to do." I wait a few moments, but nothing happens. I stand up and go to leave, but I stop when I feel a heat coming toward me. I pull water out of the river and move to attack, but I stop when I see Sokka walking down the path toward me. I look at him, tears in my eyes.

"Sokka," I say. "I'm sickened with myself right now. I-I just-" He stops me with a hug. It's one of those "I'm your brother" hugs. The kind of hugs that he gives me whenever I'm not doing so well and he knows that I can do better. The last time I got one of these was after Sozin's Comet, when I was worried about Zuko's healing. I had healed him well, but I was so paranoid. He brought me right out of my paranoia and I learned to let go.

"I love you, sis," he says. "No matter what freaky powers you have, you're still my sister. Who knows? This could actually be a good thing. I don't know how, but we'll find a way."

"Since when are you such an optimist?"

"Since my baby sister is beating herself up over some emotional bending," he says, laughing a little. "Think about it. If you hadn't lost control of your emotions three years ago, Aang would still be in that Iceberg and the world would be obliterated right now. Zuko would still be searching for the Avatar. You would've never been a master. We would've never met Toph. I never would have met Suki." He pulls away from the hug and gives me a soft push on the shoulder. "Please, Katara," he says. "Your time of the month saved the world." I find myself both laughing and smacking him in the face at the same time.

"I'll have you know, Mr. Menstrual," I say. "I'm not on my time of month yet! So you can't blame this on that."

"No," he laughs. "But I can blame the discovery of the Avatar on the "female calender"." I smack him in the arm and I find myself laughing again. I look down at the water again and I see my reflection.  
"Sokka," I ask. "Do you think that mom's watching us? You know, from the Spirit World?" My brother gives me a look of complete utter shock at the question, but he answers nevertheless.

"I guess so," he says. "Why are you mentioning this now?"

"After I went searching for Yon Rah with Zuko," I explain. "I swore on Mom's name that I would never bloodbend again. I made a vow and tonight, because of my screwed up love life, I broke that vow." Sokka has a look of bewilderment on his face and he puts his hand on my shoulder.

"Is that what's got you all worked up?" I nod. "Listen," he says. "Our mother loved you enough to sacrifice her life to save yours. I swear, from what dad tells me, you're becoming more and more like her every day." I see Sokka get a little emotional and start to tear up. "She would not care about you breaking some vow. She loves you with all of her heart and she would still love you even if you turned out like Azula. Which for the love of all that Yue stands for I-"

"Sokka," I say. "You know I'm never going to be like her. As for mom, I know she loves me, but I felt like I was disgracing her by-"

"Screw all of that ancient disgracing nonsense," he says to me. "You have an extreme power in your element and you're still getting over your breakup with the fucking Avatar for Yue's sake! I think Mom will understand!" We look up at the crescent moon and I see Sokka stare with a smile on his face.

"Do you miss her?" I ask. Stupid question. Obviously, he misses her. That's just common sense. That's why he's looking up at her with tears in his eyes. I can be so stupid sometimes.

"Of course I do," he says. "Suki is a wonderful warrior and a fantastic woman, but there will never be someone out there for me like Yue. Not a day goes by that I don't think about her." I wrap my arm around him.

"It's okay, big brother," I say. "Like she said, she'll always be with you. Just like mom." I look down at the river and see my reflection. Just like mom. Always with me. She loves me. She loves me. I smile and give Sokka a hug. "Maybe we should get back to camp?" I suggest. "Onyx said we're leaving in the morning?"

"Yeah," I hear Sokka say in a blank voice. "Just.. Can you give me a few minutes?"

"Of course." I nod and walk up to where the trail back to camp starts. Just then, I hear Sokka start to talk.

"Yue," he says. "I don't know if you can hear me, but I hope you can because if not, well than this is sufficiently awkward." I roll my eyes and I'm about to keep walking when I feel a strange sensation enter my body. The light from the moon goes out and i look over to Sokka. I have to keep myself from gasping when I see Yue in her spirit form standing before my brother.

"Sokka," she says. "You haven't changed a bit." I see my brother's smile get wider and he tries to hug her. He flies through her and falls onto the ground. "I'm visible to you, but not touchable. I wish I was." I watch him struggle to get back up.

"Yue," he says. "You have no idea how much I miss you. Not a day goes by that I-"

"I miss you, too," she cuts him off. "With bit of light in my body. I keep looking for ways to return, but I am forever a spirit. We can never be together, no matter how hard I want to."

"B-but didn't the moon and the ocean do it once already," he asks. "You know, with the Koi fish?"

"They were lucky to have not disappeared forever," she explains. "That involves a level of power that even they didn't have. I wish that I could do it, but I can't. It pains me to say this, Sokka, but this is the last time you will ever see me." I see my brother's eyes widen with tears.

"What?" he nearly screams. "H-Ho-How can you say that? I-I love you, Yue!" I get emotional. This is horrible. Sokka has never gotten over her. This must be killing him.

"See reason," she says. "I will forever be a spirit. We can never be together. I love you, but you have found something in Suki. Be with her. You deserve to be happy." I tear up. Why can't they just be together? Why do the bounds of worlds keep those who love each other apart?

"But, Yue," Sokka starts. "I-" He is cut off by a Yue's form disappearing and the moon returning. Her voice lingers in the air for a brief moment, at a low, soothing voice.

"Goodbye, Sokka," she says. "I'll always be with you." I see him sink to the ground, crying loudly. I run out from the bush and pull him into my arms. She parted with us for the final time. She's gone. This must be really killing him. He wraps his arms around me and sobs into my chest.  
"She's gone." is all he says as he cries and cries. The moon looks upon us with sadness tonight. The sky darkens slightly and the clouds cover the moon. It starts to rain and I hold Sokka close. I don't stand up. He doesn't deserve this. No one deserves this. That's when I realize that this is the same thing I did to Aang, only a little less dramatic. He must be feeling this same pain. He must be feeling like crying himself to sleep and it's all because of me. I did this. I look down at Sokka and up at the raining clouds, thinking of the sad girl behind them. Even though they live on two separate planes, the son and the moon are both crying their skies out tonight.

* * *

**Author's Note: Pretty emotional chapter. So, this one was really difficult to write because of the multiple things going on. **

**I just want you guys to know that Hama still has her grudge and it will come into play in the next couple chapters. I really thought that even though they're completely different nations, the two of them together would be an interesting pairing because of their places with Katara. Azula's her enemy and Hama is a foe. They're really dark and the two of them are going to be a fun team to write. **

**I never felt that we got a proper goodbye to Yukka at all. Sorry if I brought tears to any Yukka shippers, but I had to. I just had to for the purpose of getting closure. **

**Thanks for reading!  
Review this chapter, please! Don't hesitate to make a long review. I read them all, no matter what!**

**:)**


	6. Chapter 5: Arrival and Planning

AZULA'S POV

So, the Dark Spirit has left me alone with this Hama woman quite quickly. I assume he finds it funny to pair me with a water savage like her. Well, I shall prove it to be most unfunny.  
"So," I say to her. We have made camp up the mountain a little. We will begin our search at dawn. It is too easy to get winded if we travel now. "How does this bloodbending of yours work?" I am intrigued by the idea. Contrary to popular belief, firebending, while deadly and powerful, lacks the close grip that an airbender or a waterbender possesses with their opponent.

An airbender can possibly suck the air from one's lungs or crush them from the inside out. A waterbender can use bloodbending to do terrible things to a person from the inside out. A firebender, well, can just cause bodily harm from the outside. We have no direct contact to anyone from the inside. Hama, though, can get you from your organs and crush you. But the thing that absolutely makes me giddy is how she uses it to torture or use someone like a puppet. Oh, if I had this ability, the fun I would have with my enemies. The fun I would have with Katara.

"It's simple, firebender," she says. "I take control of a person from the inside and make them do as I please. Would you like a demonstration?" I smirk.

"Yes," I say. "Yes, I would." Within the next moment, My hand stops working. It moves up without my will making it. She would dare to bloodbend royal blood? This little old fuck! I swear when I am free, I'll-

She lets me go.

"How dare you bend royal blood," I say, raising my fingers to shoot at her. "I'll make you wish you never-" My arm stops and I fall down to the dirty grass. My body cannot move itself and I quiver inside at the strange feeling of my blood move. She pulls me up into the air and I feel my bones crack a little.

"Let's get something straight here, fire brat," she says, holding me up with her puppeteer-like stance. "Your people imprisoned me for months and if I had never figured out this ability, I would have died there." She pulls me up a little further. "I will spare your life because I need you to assist me in my goal, but know this," she says in a threatening voice. "If you ever try to harm me again, I will rip your limps off, one by one, and feed them to the cannibal tribes of Kitka in the Earth Kingdom. I'm sure royal meat would turn them into gluttonous pigs." She drops me to the ground and I hold a scowl. I let a growl escape and stand up.

"No," I say. "You listen to me, you old hag. I willingly listened to The Dark Spirit by allowing you on my journey! If it weren't for my need for Katara's slow death, you would have been burnt chum on the spot, are we clear?" She turns to me and scowls.  
"Like you could have stopped the Dark Spirit?" she says with a sarcastic attitude. "I tried to resist her for many years, but I finally caved." She gets closer to me. "You're powerful," she says. "But predictable. The Dark Spirit knows that you will stop at nothing to spill Katara's blood, and she's counting on your determination so that she can get what she wants."

"Well, then," I say. "Oh, wise one. What does she want so badly?"

"I couldn't tell you," she replies. "The Dark Spirit is one to keep things vague. I do have a question for you, though." I narrow my eyes. What could a peasant like her want to ask me?

"Yes," I respond. "Go on."

"What is keeping you from wanting to just go down there and get her already," she asks. "The two of us could surely take down those kids with ease. I sincerely doubt Katara has improved her bloodbending enough to do it in blatant daylight yet." I look at my feet. What is keeping me from going down there? I know exactly where their campsite is. I know exactly where she will be sleeping. I saw the rock tent. One bolt of lighting and... bang. It could all be over. But why? Why can't I do it? Then it hits me.

"My brother has romantic feelings for Katara," I say. Hama's face has an expression of shock. "I noticed it in Ba Sing Se a few years ago, but on the arrival of Sozin's Comet, it really hit me." I make a small flame in my hand. "I had my brother's life in the palm of my hand and I was ready for the finishing blow." I throw the flame into the air. "I got sidetracked when I saw her there. I just wanted her to let me finish playing with Zuzu!" I let fire escape my nostrils. "She didn't even flinch when I shot the lightning. I expected her to just die, then and there, but no. No, no. Poor little Zuzu had to be the fucking hero!" Fire came out of my mouth in bursts. I see Hama back up a little to avoid the flames. "He took the lightning bolt for her," I confess. "Right in the abdomen." Hama catches her breath. This must have been news to her. Oh, right. She was an escapee, living in the forests at the time of the comet. She couldn't have known. Oh, well. She knows now.

"Well, then," Hama says. "If we are truly going to make this a spectacle, which it should be, we have to make the Fire Lord see what he is losing." I give her a confused look.

"What are you blabbering on about?" I ask.

"We take her out," she replies. "But we do it in front of your brother. I can tell that all you want is to see his life burn up. Well, here's your perfect chance." I roll my eyes. This will never work.

"But what about the Avatar and his sidekicks," I question. "They will obviously be trying to fight us off." I cross my arms. "It is a brilliant idea, but it is almost completely unachievable."  
"Almost being the key word," she says. "It can be done if approached in the right way." She sits on the grass. "As for the Avatar and his friends," I say. "You leave them to me." I smirk at the thought of the Avatar and his little gang being caught and tortured by Hama's bloodbending grip. The thought pleases me a tad, but it is nothing compared of the thought of Katara writhing in pain beneath my flame. That bitch needs to be slaughtered. She needs it, and I will be the one to give it to her. I feel my inner fire as we look at each other. This woman, though a member of that wretched culture, has a side to her that is so... firebender. I love it.

"Good," I say. "So when do we leave?"

"Not for a little while," she says. "We don't want to get there too early. Let them get comfortable. We will attack when they least expect it."

* * *

KATARA'S POV

I've always loved flying. There's something about being high above the clouds that really feels like no other. You feel so paper thin, so breakable, but so free at the same time. We had been flying for about an hour. From what Sokka says, we should be in the Capital City within the day. Thank the spirits. I really can't handle all of this craziness anymore. Something about having Azula on my tail and learning all of this crazy new bloodbending stuff is really giving me the creeps.

"Katara." I hear someone say. I turn to see Aang hopping up into the saddle to sit nearby me.

"Aang," I say. "Shouldn't you be steering Appa?"

"No," he replies. "We're pretty much on a straight shot to the city." I nod.

"So," I say. "What is it, Aang? Do you need something?" I really hope that he doesn't want to talk about the whole bloodbending incident. Sokka apparently talked to him about it, but that wouldn't help anything. Knowing Sokka, he probably messed up what he wanted to say and it all came out wrong .Oh, my brother. How I love him so.

"Actually," he says. "Yes. I need to ask you about something that I saw in a vision." Okay, good. Wait. No, that isn't good. What if it's about the bloodbending thing? I am in no way comfortable with talking about that right now. But instead of protesting, I gesture for him to ask away. "What do you know about a gem?"

"A gem?" He nods. Now that was out of left field. What could he mean? Is he talking about rock gems or something like that? I need more information. "What was the vision about?"

"Well," he says, stumbling over his words. "It's something that I'm really waiting on telling anyone until we're in private. It's sort of a need to know kind of thing." He twiddles his thumbs. I nod and touch my mother's necklace.

"The only thing I can think of is my mother's pendant," I say. "But I don't know how that would fit into a vision." Did he have a vision about me? This is really confusing. "Can you tell me when we get to the palace," I ask. "We'll be in private there."

"I guess so," he says. "Thanks!" He joyfully hops back up onto Appa's head and we fly a little faster. My mind keeps wondering about this gem that he was talking about. What kind of gem could possibly be in an Avatar's vision? That just doesn't make sense. I lay my head down on the back of the saddle. Everyone else is back to sleep, resting it out until we get to the palace, so why not me? I close my eyes and drift off into sleep.

_I am in the middle of a large field. The wind is blowing and the reeds of the tall grass blow in the breeze. It smells of autumn. I look down to see that I am dressed in a light red dress, with black lace on the arms. That's weird. Why am I wearing red? I look up to see a woman, with black hair and golden eyes looking at me. She wears a thick set of red robes, with her hair down except for a little put in a topknot. I wave to her, but she doesn't respond. She has a soft face, with a calm pair of eyes. They were so neutral; so full of natural balance. They looked almost exactly like-_

_"Zuko!" I turn around to see a young boy running into the grass. He falls almost a few feet away from me. I see the same woman as before running toward the boy, her robes flailing in the wind. The little boy looks up at her as she reaches him and she strokes the hair from his forehead. He has tears in his eyes. "Why are you running?" _

_"Because," he says. "Dad doesn't love me." The woman looks appalled. She holds the boy close, stroking his hair._

_"Your father loves you, Zuko," she says. "He just has a harder time showing it than most." Wait. What? Zuko? That little boy is Zuko? Than she must be-_

_"Well then why does he tell me that I was lucky to be born?" young Zuko asks in a childlike voice. "You heard him. He said that Azula was born lucky and that I was lucky to be born. Why would he say that if he loved me?" My heart breaks a little. Did Ozai really say that? Is any of this real? I couldn't imagine someone saying something so heartless to their own child. My father would never do that to either Sokka or I. _

_"Your father was raised a different way than I am trying to raise you," his mother says. "He sees so much of him physically in you that he expects the most. Sometimes it gets to him a little." I watch as young Zuko cries into his mother's arms. _

_"Dad won't hurt me, though, right?" he asks. "I know he hurt Azula a lot of times when he was teaching her. She told me all about it."_

_"He'll have to get through me first," she says. "And I'll have a talk with him about Azula. She's too young to be into that type of training." I see young Zuko nod and fade away. He and his mother are gone. I turn around and I am, once again, face to face with the woman from before. I assume her to be Zuko's mother. She looked the same as the woman in the vison, but I couldn't be completely sure. _

_"Who are you?" I ask. The woman steps forward and walks toward me. She and I are nearly a foot apart when she speaks. _

_"You already know who I am," she says. "We do not have much time." I nod and she continues. "There are many terrible things coming. Dark Spirits are at work and things are coming to a head." _

_"Does this have anything to do with this gem that Aang saw?" I ask, without thought. _

_"Yes," she says. "That is the key. I will give you this advice. Where Sun and Moon find their dawn, the gem will reveal itself. Follow the winds, they will only lead you home." And with that, she was gone. _

I snap awake and look around me. We are just passing the Great Gates of Azulon. I smile. We will be there in no time. I think back to my dream. Wow, that was crazy. Was it really only a dream? No, no. I am not the Avatar. Only the Avatar can have those types of weird spirit dreams. That was Aang's department, not mine. But what if it was a vision? Could Zuko's mom be reaching out to me from beyond the grave? But why would she reach out to me? I'm nothing special. I'm not the Avatar. I'm no bridge between the physical and spirit worlds.

I think about her advice. The gem would reveal itself when the Sun and the Moon find their dawn. That made absolutely no sense. Did she mean when dawn comes, I will know what the gem is? I am so confused. I am about ready to just give up when I see the Capital City in the distance. Thank the spirits. We were almost there. I look over to my students, who are just waking up. I see Io looking at the city in marvel, fascinated. Yin completely sits and takes a moment to breathe before looking. It doesn't seem to memorize her as much. Onyx, well, is off to the side, watching the water below us. Typical. Doesn't want to come out of his box. Doesn't want to show much interest in anything.

"It's so beautiful," Io says. "Isn't it, Master Katara?" I look at the volcano. Last time I was here, I barely made it out alive. This was where Azula made her final stand during Sozin's Comet. This was where Zuko almost gave his life for me. This place was haunting to me, but still, I could see the beauty. The buildings were well crafted in red and white. The palace was made of a rich metal in the middle of a volcano. It was quite beautiful, and I could probably see it more if it weren't for the constant memories of invasions and Agni Kais plaguing my brain.

"Yes," I say. "I suppose it is." I can feel someone looking in my direction and I turn to see Guru Pahtik smiling at me.

"It is completely understandable to be nervous, my dear," he says. "I know you are strong enough to hide your fear, but sometimes it's best to just to let the feelings run." He takes my hand in his. "Even the best of full moons needs to let the sun rise a little." I smile. That was actually pretty good advice. Well, he is a guru. He has to know his stuff.

"Thank you, Guru Pahtik." I say.

"You're welcome, Katara," he replies. "You are stressed over something grave. I can sense it." Damn. He is good.

"Yes," I say. "I was going to ask Aang about it later on."

"Nonsense," he quickly replies. "The young Avatar is a very spiritual person, but I will be able to really help your problem. I can sense that this is going to need some close evaluation." He removes his hand from mine and gives me a serious look. "I will need both you and the Fire Lord to meet me wherever they are going to be keeping me. It is of quite the urgency that we do it as soon as possible." I nod and we land in front of the palace. In front of the gates stands approximately a couple hundred soldiers in red Imperial soldier armor. Of course, Zuko has an entourage now. I forgot.

Aang and I help Io, Yin and Sokka off of Appa. Guru Pahtik jumps off and offers me a helping hand. I take it and I start to get off. I feel myself slip and in a second, I am about to fall onto the cobblestone floor. Just as I think I'm about to fall on my face, someone grabs me and jumps down, me in their arms. I look up to see Onyx putting me on my feet.

"How did I know that you were already about to publically embarrass yourself in front of the Fire Lord's entire staff." he asked sarcastically. "We've only been here, what, five seconds?" I sock him in the arm and brush myself off. No sooner that I do that, I can sense a small person coming through the Imperial crowd. I don't even have to think about who it is. Her voice ringing through the crowd of soldiers says it all.

"SUGAR QUEEN," I hear Toph scream. "IS THAT YOU?" She runs head on right into my stomach and I smile. Oh, spirits have I missed her.

"Yeah, Toph," I say. "It's me." She pulls back and punches me in the arm. Oh, how she shows affection. She's so blunt.

"We were so worried about you," she yells, but then immediately bringing her voice. "But by 'we', I mean Sparky. He's been going nuts." I giggle a little and I can feel my heart rate spark a beat. "I swear," she says. "If I had a gold piece for every time I've had to talk him into stop talking about you, I'd have this palace bought." I'm really laughing uncomfortably now, and I can see a group of soldiers walking toward me. They're wearing white Imperial uniforms. Well, that's different. They all bow to me and immediately make a circle around me.

"Um-"

"Meet your meatheads," Toph says, cutting me off. "These dunderheads are your personal bodyguards."

"But I-"

"I told you," she cuts me off again. "Sparky really went crazy when he found out about that shit at Kyoshi. I thought he was going to have a heart attack with the way his blood was pumping." Blood. Veins. Toph's Seismic sense. Perfect. I could finally talk to her about this bloodbending sense now! This is great!

"Toph," I say. "Do you think that you and I could possibly go talk somewhere private?" I say. "There's something I really have been dying to talk you about." Toph nods and taps on one of the guards' shoulders.

"Listen, flame for brains," she says. "Sweetness and I are going to my quarters to have a little conversation. You can wait outside all you want, but do not come inside for any reason."

"But Grandmaster Beifong-"

"But nothing," she says. "I am in charge of you and I say that you aren't allowed to come barging in. You can do door duty, kay?" I laugh at how she's treating these soldiers. It's like their the 16 year old kids and she's the adult. It's hilarious how they just submit to her. It's a good thing that they did, though, because with the new metal armor that she has on, she could take them out without a second thought. Toph grabs my arm and we walk into the gates of the palace, guards following close behind.

We walk into the big doors and past the big paintings of past Fire Lords. I notice that Zuko hasn't had his painted yet. Strange, normally it's done once the Fire Lord is crowned from what I've read in history books. We make our way down the halls and through a few gates before reaching a closed off metal door. We open it and I read the door's inscription.

_DARK WING_

That's a strange name for an area of a palace. We make it to a large door with a large dent in the middle. Toph snickers.

"If you're looking at that dent," she says, touching it. "It's from a little spat I had with one of your armored stalkers over there." I hear one of the guards behind us groan, almost reliving the pain. I giggle and we walk into the room. It's a small room with a floor made of metal and a bed. There are a few couches and chairs, tables and whatnot, but somehow I don't feel like Toph cares for that style. She walks over to the bed and sits down. I sit on a chair and we just sit in silence for a few minutes. Finally, Toph breaks it.

"So," she says casually. "What's up? Your heartbeats running a marathon."

"Do you remember when we met that woman named Hama," I ask. "You know, the bloodbender?" Toph doesn't seem to be phased at all.

"Yeah," she says. "She was one creepy old coot. Why's that bag of saggy skin coming up in conversation anyway?" I laugh a little before going directly back to the seriousness.

"I was practicing my bending a few days ago," I explain. "When I started to really feel the pulse in the water. Then, when I asked Aang about it, I could feel the blood in his veins." I feel sick to my stomach. "It was almost like I was feeling his blood."

"So you were basically using my skill," she says. "But with bloodbending."

"Yeah," I reply. "I just feel like I'm not supposed to be doing it. Bloodbending's wrong and-"  
"Look, Sweetness," she snaps. "I'm all for keeping away from the darker sides of bending, but let's be honest." She gets up from the bed and walks over to me. "Crazy's coming, and she'll no doubt find you here. Sure, we'll be able to help, but having a second seismic sense, no matter the source, is an added advantage." I move to say something, but I can't. She's right. There's nothing I can do. I want to never bloodbend again, but just feeling the people around me won't be doing any harm, right? I can just feel for where people are. I wouldn't be hurting them. I try to convince myself that I'm not a monster. Hama was a monster. She took control of people for her own personal gain. I'm not like that. I never will be.

* * *

**Author's Note: Just a short chapter for the sake of a filler for getting to the palace. ZUTARA FEELS TO COME. **


	7. Chapter 6: The Sun and The Moon

**Author's Note: I know it's been some time since I've posted, but this chapter really took some tweaking to get right. I didn't want to screw this up.**

* * *

ZUKO'S POV

The image of her getting off of that bison replays over and over again in my head. She has changed so much. I think about her face, so much more defined. I think about her body, filled out and more adult. She is still the same Katara I knew on the inside, but the outside is now twice as stunning, if that is even possible. I mentally kick myself for not going over and greeting her. There was plenty of protection there, so there was no risk at all. Even if there was, I should have just done it. Something about her just paralyzes me. I can't do anything with her around.

I am back in my throne room, pacing for the fifteenth time today. It's been a day since she arrived. I should have gone to see her by now. I mentally kick myself again. I am so stupid. I walk out of the throne room and into the hallway. I stride past the paintings of past Fire Lords. I still need to get mine done. Eh, I will pen in a time for that sometime later. Right now, I need to get to her. I need to say hello. At the very least, a greeting is what she deserves.  
I approach her room and I extend my hand to knock on the door. Wait. I pull back. What if she's sleeping? It is quite early in the morning. I make another attempt to knock, but I pull back again. What if she's with someone? What if Aang answers or something? The did come together and all of that. All of these what-ifs run my mind in circles. I'm about to make a third attempt to knock when the metal below my feet shakes a little. Toph.

"I knew you didn't have the fireballs to talk to her public," I hear her say from behind me. "But you can't even knock on her door without cringing like a pussy." I turn to face her. "Oh, fear the oh-so-powerful Fire Lord." She punches me in the arm, laughing. "Hold on, let me cower in fear."

"Thanks, Toph," I say. "Really, you're the symbol of kindness." She steps forward and knocks hard on Katara's door. I step back, nervousness showing in my face.

"You'll thank me for this sooner or later." I see her walk off, a look of sheer content on her face. Should I run while I still can? Should I stay and stand my ground. I'm the Fire Lord, ruler of a country of people known for their power. I am no fearful child. The door opens and Katara looks at me, smile on her face. Yes, I am a fearful child.

* * *

KATARA'S POV

_A FEW MINUTES PRIOR_

I sit on my bed, playing with a loose piece of skin on my hand. I clip it off with my nails. The room that I have been given is pretty nice. It's spacious, yet small. Everything's either red or white, to my dismay, but then I remember that I'm in the Fire Nation. Everything's red here - including my face. I've had the same blush ever since I got here. The fact that I haven't seen Zuko yet has been getting under my skin. From what Toph said, he was worried about me enough to give me a guard posse of armored firebenders. It was a thoughtful gesture, sure, but after a day of having them, I had to dismiss them. It was fine to have one or two as I walked the grounds, but it was just plain awkward to have a group of men sitting outside of the bathroom as I went to the bathroom. That's where I drew the line.

I stop breathing for a second as the floor shakes slightly. These new metal floors have been pretty sturdy, so to feel them shake, even a little, frightens me. I hear some talking outside of my room, but it's pretty muffled because of the door. Damn, this metal. That's when I hear a knock. It's pretty tough and hard. I sit up out of bed and walk toward the door. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I can see a figure, a little unclear, but a heart beating a mile a minute. I open the door and open my eyes. My heart nearly jumps out of my chest. Zuko. I smile at him. Wow, he's really filled out. Through the sleeves of his armor, I can see that he's been working out. His face is fuller and and his cheekbones are more prominent. I can feel my body shake a little as I struggle to keep my smile.  
"Oh," I say. "Hey, Zuko."

"Hey." This is fairly awkward. I look around the hallway, trying to keep my eyes away from his. I have to do something to break the ice. But what? I decide to just hug him. I can feel his heartbeat, along with my own, skyrocket.

"It's been, what," I say, pulling back from the hug. "Three years?" I see him look at me and a blush rises. Oh, great. Three years hasn't done much. We're still teenagers at heart. I step back a little.

"Yeah," he replies. "Three years." We sit in silence for a minute and I swear, for a second, he seems to be blushing harder than me, as hard as that is to believe. I wonder what he's looking at? Is my hair a mess? Do I have something in my teeth? Oh, spirits. I hope that my breath doesn't smell. I see him look to his feet and he steps back a little.

"It's been lovely seeing you," he says. "A-A-Ah-Do you-Would you like to join me for dinner tonight?" I giggle and feel a bead of sweat fall from the side of my head. Did he just ask me out? No, he probably meant just to catch up as friends. Either way, I am about to respond, when I feel a body coming toward us from around the corner. I immediately pull water from the vase across from inside my room and I position myself to attack. Zuko sees this and jumps back.

"What's going on?" he asks me.

"Someone's coming," I say without thought. "They're about to turn the corner." I see a shadow coming from around the corner and I am about to shoot, when I see Onyx walking around toward me. I put the water back in the vase and try to calm down. He scared the hell out of me.

"For the love of the spirits, Katara," Onyx says to me. "I think you're taking the whole 'shoot the messenger' thing a little too seriously." I see him look at Zuko and then back to me. "This saves time," he says. "Guru Whats-his-face wants to see you two whenever you're ready." Oh, crap. I forgot about that.

"Alright," I say. "We'll go see him right now." Onyx nods and walks back from where he came. I wipe some sweat from my forehead.

"I'm so confused right now." Zuko says.

"I sort of promised Guru Pahtik I would take you to see him with me."

"Why do I have to go?" he asks me. Oh, shit. How do I explain my creepy vision to Zuko? I don't.

"I don't know," I lie. "He asked to see the both of us." Zuko nods and we start off down the hallway. I follow him, mostly because I have no idea where Guru Pahtik's room is. We walk into the Dark Wing again, and we make it passed all the rooms before we get to a room with a flower on it. Of course. He's a Guru. A little redecorating with floral arrangements could be expected.  
I knock on the door, standing a foot away from Zuko. Something is just breathing an awkward air between the two of us and I feel like I need to back away a little. The door opens lightly and we come face to face with Guru Pahtik. He has a smile on his face when he looks at the two of us.

"So," he says. "Onyx already found you both. I had a feeling that boy wasn't the type to dilly-dally." I laugh a little to myself. He is a very to the point kind of guy.

"You wanted to see us?" Zuko says.

"Yes, yes," the old Guru says. "Come in, come in." We follow behind him as we walk in. The room in it's own is a little smaller than mine, but the decor is a little different. It looks slightly more... Ancient, maybe? The wallpaper is a deep red, but the bedcovers were a light pink. We sat in a triangle on the floor. Guru Pahtik first looked at Zuko, and then to me.

"So," he says. "On the bison, you were stressed about something. What was it?" Oh, crap. Zuko's here. I don't want to say anything in front of him about his mother, but it was probably going to come up again at some point in the future, so I decide just to blurt out the bare minimum. The details can wait until we get to them.

"I had a dream," I explain. "But it was more like a vision." The Guru nods and motions for me to continue. "I spoke to someone and I saw what I assume to be a flashback." Zuko looks at me, and I avoid his glance. If it all comes out, I'm not sure how he's going to take it.

"Do you know the people you saw in the flashback?"

"Yes."

"You are holding back," he says. "You must be honest, or I cannot help you to my best ability." I nod. Okay, Katara. Just say it. It's best to just get it out right now than wait. I take a deep breath and let it out.

"I saw a woman who said that she was Zuko's mother," I feel Zuko's blood pump hard and fast. "Then I saw a flashback of she and Zuko talking about his father." I gulp. "Then she gave me some advice that I can't really understand."

"I see," Guru Pahtik sits up straight and takes a deep breath. He turns to Zuko. "Fire Lord Zuko, I would assume that you have questions based on the look on your face." Zuko just looks at me and part of me can imagine the thoughts running through his head. All his life, he thought his mother to be dead. It must be terrible to have her mentioned. I know I hated when someone mentioned my mother.

"I'm just really confused," he says. "What kind of flashback was it?" I struggle to look at him. I have to tell him.

"You were crying and talking about your father telling you that Azula was born lucky," I say. "And-"

"I was lucky to be born." His voice gets low.

"So it was a true flashback?" Zuko nods. I put my hand in his and he looks up at me. Guru Pahtik looks at me and cuts in.  
"I am curious to hear what the advice was," he says. "Can you remember it?" I struggle to remember and I tighten my grip on Zuko's hand. Then it just comes to me. Almost like I had just heard it.

"Where Sun and Moon find their dawn, the gem will reveal itself." I recall. "Follow the winds, they will only lead you home." Guru Pahtik's eyes go wide for a second to think before speaking.

"There is only one part that confuses me the most," I say. "It's about the Sun and the Moon. The gem hasn't been revealed yet, and it's already past dawn." I let go of Zuko's hand and run mine through my hair. "That means that she wasn't talking about a time, but what else could she mean." Guru Pahtik gives a giggle and stands up.

"My dear," he says. Zuko and I stand up as well. "I do not find it that confusing. Whatever this gem is, it will reveal itself when the Sun and the Moon-"

"We get that already," Zuko butts in. "The Sun and the Moon must find their dawn, but what does that mean? Must she find the sun and moon spirits? That's Aang's job."

"It is not speaking of the spirits, young Fire Lord," he replies. "Here's a little food for thought. In order for the time to change, the sun and the moon must work together. It's meant to be perfect marriage." He looks to Zuko. "Your mother came to Katara for a reason with that vision. When you find the reason for that vision, all will become clear."  
"So," I say. "How do we find the reason for it if-"

"I believe if she came to you once," he cuts me off. "She will come to you again." He pushes us out of the room and when we end up in the hallway. "Reflecting on the past can give you a great eye for the future." He shuts the door and we are left with each other.

"Well," I say. "That was sufficiently unhelpful."

"No," he says. "It wasn't." I look up at him. "You would have never told me about that vision had we not came here, right?" I look away and nod. "Exactly," he says. "You and I are more distant than we were all those years ago. What changed?" I look at him in disbelief. How can he-

I look at the way we are acting. We're fighting and standing feet apart. When we were traveling together way back when, hell, even when we were enemies, we were never as distant as we are now. In the Crystal Catacombs, even though we were enemies, we got so close. I thought he ws going to kiss me back then. I thought something was going to happen, but as we can now see, that didn't happen. With the way that we're acting, it's almost like those times between us never happened.

"Was it Aang?" I hear him say. I try to look at him with anger, but a part of me knows deep down that that's the reason. If Aang hadn't kissed me at the invasion, I wouldn't have felt obliged to kiss him after the comet. He and I wouldn't have dated, and maybe I would be with Zuko right now. Maybe I would be able to think.

"It's just all really complicated," I say. "I'll talk to you later." I see him go to grab my arm.

"Can't we just talk about this?"

"Not right now," I say. "I'm just too confused." I start to walk away, but he grabs me. I move to get out of his grip, but I can't. He pulls me in close and we're hugging. He has me in his arms and I can feel his heart without even using my sense. I can't believe I'm fighting with him right now. There's no need for this. Why can't I just tell him how I feel? Why can't I just spit it out? Why can't I just spit it out like I did to Aang? Because you don't love Aang. A voice says in my head. It's true. I love him like a brother, sure, but that's the extent of it. He loves me as a girlfriend, but I can't love him back. I pull away from Zuko and look up into his eyes. Those gold orbs. Oh, how I've missed them. We look at each other for what could feel like an eternity, and then I see his face come closer to mine. He's going to kiss me! He's really going to kiss me! This time it's actually going to happen. I lean in toward him and we are nearly an inch apart. It's going to happen. It's going to happen. We're going to-

"Katara!" I hear a familiar voice say from down the hallway. "Katara, where are-" I turn around to see Sokka standing nearly three feet from us, his jaw dropped. I mentally kick myself. We're in the middle of a hallway. I couldn't think to walk back to my room first? No, no. I absolutely had to just stand outside of Guru Pahtik's room and nearly kiss the guy I've had suppressed feelings for for three years.

"Sokka," Zuko starts. "I-"

"When did this happen?" he nearly screamed back in a shocked voice.

"It didn't," I say. "If you can't tell." My voice has a tone of regret that it didn't. Of course, I had to be the one with a brother that always has a way with coming in at the last minute.

"I got to say," he replies. "I had a feeling something was going down after you and Aang broke up. You didn't even try to date anyone after that. I had a feeling there was someone else."

"We're not even-"

"I know," he cuts me off. "Just.. Just.. Don't let Aang see this. I'm fine with it, but Aang will flip." He makes weird gestures with his hands. "I doubt Zuko wants his palace to burn down in a whopping pile of Avatar State fury." He laughs and walks away. I smack myself on the forehead. This would happen to me.

"Katara, I-"

"Zuko, I-" We talk at the same time. We stand in silence before I back up a little. "I'm going to my room," I say. "I'll see you later." He nods and I walk down the hallway and out of the Dark Wing. When I reach my room, I throw open the door and run into my room. I jump onto the bed. Tears are streaming from my face. I'm so stupid. I'm so fucking stupid. How could I have even tried to get closer to him like that? Ugh.

"So," I hear a voice say. "What happened? Did the poor little girl get her heart broken?" I turn to see a woman standing in the corner. Her hair is down to her waist and she is wearing a black kimono. I see her pull a knife out of her sleeve and I know who she is. Mai.

I move to get water, but I'm not fast enough. She's on top of me, on the bed. She holds we down, a knife an inch from my neck. I try to struggle, but she pushes down onto me. I look up into her eyes and I can see them, filled with anger. She wants to kill me. I can see it in the way she's glaring at me. The knife is close enough that I could be done for. She pulls it closer to my neck and I gasp.

"I know how Zuko feels about you," she says. "I could see it the day that he came back from that fucking Agni Kai." She digs the knife into my bed. "I thought, after you and the Avatar got together that he could learn to love me like he used to, but after I heard about how the two of you were imprisoned together in Ba Sing Se, I knew he'd never love me. He never did." She pulls the knife up and pushes it to my neck. "So let me tell you something right now, water whore," she says, venom in her words. "If you hurt him, I will not hesitate to put you in the worst pain of your life. I will not hesitate to make sure that if and when Azula finds you, there won't be a single shred of life left in your corpse, do you get me? I will make you pay!" She pulls the knife back into her sleeve and jumps off of me. I move to attack, but she shoots a dagger at me. It barely misses me and hits the wall.

"If you dare tell anyone I was here," she says. "Next time, it won't be as fun of a visit." She slams the door as she leaves my room. She's gone, but I still feel like her presence is here. Her very presence is unraveling, but that feeling that I got as she pushed onto me, as she was about to stab that knife into my neck. I'll never forget it. All of this, just for security. I try to tell myself that I wouldn't hurt Zuko, but deep down, I knew that when it came to me, one of them had to get hurt; Zuko or Aang. I know, without hesitation, that I would choose Zuko, but how would Aang react? I think back to what Sokka had said. Aang would lose it. He would go nuts. When it comes down to it, either way, someone is going to get hurt.

* * *

ZUKO'S POV

I am so stupid! I was so close to kissing her, and I just blew it. I just fucking blew it. She looked like she wanted me to kiss her, too. Those beautiful blue eyes just looked up at me with want and desire. How could I be so stupid as to just linger on in there? I should have just kissed her with all of the passion in my body. Agni, do I know how to screw things up. The walk over to Toph's room is short, but it feels like a hike. She's probably going to chew me out for being so damn overly-romantic. I should have kissed her like a man and I know that. I'm about to knock, but I hear her voice from inside the room.

"Come in, Sparky." I roll my eyes. Damn seismic sense. Damn these metal floors. Damn everything. I open the door and walk into the room. Toph is sitting on her bed, eating some grapes. She has really taken a liking to palace food, and no doubt, she'll want some seeds to take home with her if she ever decides to leave. I walk over to the chair beside her bed and plop down into it. I put my head in my hands and just sit in silence. "What happened, oh powerful Fire Lord," she asks me sarcastically. "Your doll set break? Don't worry I'll make you a new one. No need to fuss!" Her tone was so sarcastic that I couldn't even laugh. I hear her move closer to me and she punches me in the arm. "What's wrong?" Her voice is now softer, in that friend voice that she likes to hide all of the time.

"Katara and I almost kissed."

"That's great, Zuko," she says, her tone ecstatic. "When am I gonna be an aunt?!" My eyes nearly bounce out of their sockets and I sit up.

"Never," I say. "I think she hates me." Toph punches me in the arm, this time with big force. There's a difference between a gentle punch and a forced punch. A gentle one is for affection, but the forced one is only for when something pisses her off.

"You are so blind, Sparky," she says. "And that's coming from me." She lets her feet hang off of the side of the bed and kicks the bed's wooden frame, hard. She waits a few seconds before giving me a look. "Katara's in her room right now," she says. "and by the vibrations of her heart, I'd say she's either nervous or crying." The thought of Katara crying just breaks my heart. She's so perfect, so beautiful, that it hurts to think of her even in the slightest amount of pain. How could I have done this to her?

"Because that makes me feel better." I roll my eyes.

"Listen, genius," she spits back at me. "Did it ever occur to you that there's a reason that she would cry over you?" I shrug. Remembering that she can't see me I just respond with a simple "no." "Well," she says. "Then you're really stupid." She stands up and walks over to the door. "I'm to go talk to Katara. If the two of you aren't going to be able to talk things out, I'll do it for you." She opens the door and walks out. I sit up from the chair and walk out behind her. I'll just walk to my chambers. That's it. I will not speak to anyone right now. That's the last thing I need right now.  
I walk down and out of the Dark Wing. I follow the passageways and corridors and reach my mother's room. She and my father had a very poor marriage, and slept in separate rooms. After she was banished, my father had a picture of her placed directly on the bottom headboard of her bed.

I walk in and kneel in front of her portrait.

"I know I haven't come here in a while," I say. "and I'm sorry, mother. It's just that a lot is going on, as you probably know. I have no idea where you are, but Katara says you came to her in a dream." I feel myself choke up a bit. "Are you in the spirit world? If you have crossed over, I really want to know." I feel tears come from my eyes and I wipe them away. "Mother," I say. "I love her so much. I have for a long time. I have no idea what to do. I don't think she feels the same way, and it's killing me. It really is." The tears are really coming now, and I just can't take it. I curl up, my knees against my chin, and I look my mother's face in the portrait. "J-J-Just give me a sign that you're still here," I say. "I need advice." Just then, a breeze of wind came through the window. I stand up and walk over to it. I go to shut it, but the wind keeps it open. I look outside to see the ocean, accompanied by the sun above. The waves are crashing against the rocky shore of the Capital City island, and the sun just looks from in the sky, shining it's rays down. That's when it hits me.

The sun. Fire. The moon. Water. Fire. Water. Me. Katara. When the sun and the moon find their dawn. When Katara and I finally find each other, the gem or whatever would be revealed. That's why my mother came to Katara. She knew that I know of my feelings, but Katara doesn't. I can't believe this! I turn around to go find Katara when I come face to face with a similar pair of golden eyes.

"She's beautiful, Zuko," Mai says with a deadly tone. "You really picked a winner this time around." I watch her walk into the room, flicking a knife around in her hand.

"What are you talking about?" I say. She can't possibly be talking about Katara. No one besides Toph and, now, Sokka knows about that. I watch her get cloer and closer to me.

"What a shame about the genealogy, though," she says. "A waterbending Fire Lady? Oh, how that would be the chat of the council." I narrow my eyes. "I guess that's why her end isn't that shocking." My heart stops. I grab her by the arms and slam her against the wall.

"What did you do her?!" I scream. She smirks and I push harder against her. A part of me knows that she won't hurt her, but then the other half remembers that Mai has done the unthinkable before. She betrayed Azula, and survived.

"Nothing yet," she snaps. "But don't be surprised if it does in the near future." She pushes me off of her roughly and starts to walk out of the room. I see her turn to look at me. Our eyes connect. I can see the pain. I can see the hurt. She walks out of the room and I follow out. By the time I reach the hallway, she is already running. I look to the guards down the hallway.

"Follow her out of the palace!" I yell at them. They nod and follow her out. I put my head in my hands and I let out a growl. I nearly run down the hallway without a second thought and burst into Katara's room. I don't knock. I can't help but think that she's not alright. I look around her room and I find her, on the bed, crying into her kneecaps. She lifts up her head in fear, but pulls it back down when she sees that it's just me.

I walk over to her and sit onto the bed.

"Are you alright," I ask. "Did she-" I am cut off.

"No," she replies. "I'm not hurt. A little frightened, but not hurt." I look over to my left and I see a shattered vase. Water is all over the floor. I turn back to her and she just gives me an apologetic look. "I'm sorry," she says. "I went to fight back and-" I pull her into my arms, cutting her off. No, this is it. That was the last straw. First Azula, and now Mai? No one else was going to hurt her. They would have to go through me first. She looks up at me as I have my arms locked around her and our eyes meet. She's so beautiful. I can't keep my eyes off of her. I can't look away for the life of me. I lean my head in and this time, no one stops us. No one walks in. We are alone. Our lips connect, and for a moment, it's almost like world around me has faded away.

* * *

**Author's Note: Please review this chapter for me. I'm not sure if I'm going to fast or too slow. I could really use some input! **

**Thanks!**


	8. Chapter 7: Gem

**Author's Note: Hey, guys. Here's chapter seven. Thank you for reviewing these chapters! It really helps me with how I approach this story! Please, be as honest as you can with your reviews. I really want to keep improving. **

**CAUTION: POV'S switch a few more times than usual in this chapter. I had to for what's going on. **

**Here you go!**

* * *

KATARA'S POV

He kissed me. I can't believe that just happened. It finally happened. The memories all come at me in that moment, almost like an injection of thought. I remember the moment in the Crystal Catacombs. I remember him saving me at the Western Air Temple. I remember him helping me through the trauma of hunting down Yon Rah. I remember the final look in his eyes before he took the bolt of lightning for me. I can finally understand those words that seemed ununderstandable back then.

_"I love you."_

I kiss him back. My lips crash against his and we are in another world. It feels like the rest of the world doesn't exist and we are one. It's exactly how I pictured it to be. It's exactly what I had dreamed about. Our lips stay connected for what could seem like forever until he breaks it. We just look at each other, trying to understand what just happened. I get up from his arms and out of my bed. I walk over to him and pull him onto his feet.

"How did this not happen three years ago?" he says, a little out of breath. I hug him.

"I don't know," I say. "But at least it's happening now." We walk out of the room and I see Zuko walk over to a servant. He whispers something in his ear and the servant runs off to go wherever he has been sent. Zuko walks back to me and has a smirk on his face.

"We wouldn't want you to have glass all over your floor forever," he says. "Now would we?" I laugh and look up at the clock. It's a little past noon. Wait. A little past-

"Shit." I curse under my breath. I was supposed to be training my students at noon. How did I forget about that? It's my job! Ugh!

"What's wrong?"

"I'm kind of late for my lesson with my students," I explain. "Sorry, but I need to run off." He smiles at me and gives me a kiss on the forehead. I feel shivers run up my spine.

"It's fine," he replies. "Have fun." I find myself giggling as I walk away, well, more like a run. I run into the Dark Wing, trying to find their rooms. I check the first couple rooms, but they're empty. I run up to Toph's door and knock hard. The door opens and, surprisingly, I find Io and Yin sitting on the couch.

"Hey, Sugar Queen," Toph says, laughing. "Funny, we were just chatting up about you!" I gulp. Oh, god. What has she told them?

I ignore Toph and look to my two students. "Sorry I'm late, guys. Something came up." Toph laughs and punches me in the arm.

"I that something a six foot tall firebender?" I smack Toph, blushing wildly.

"Not exactly," I say, trying not to say too much. I don't even know what Zuko and I are. I don't want to say anything that isn't necessarily true yet. "I don't think Mai's one of us anymore." I see Toph's smile go to a serious face.

"What happened?"

"She basically gave me the whole 'I want you dead' speech and ran off," I say. "Nothing different." Toph grabs me and pulls me onto the couch. I slam onto the cushion with a thud.

"I sensed some commotion," she says. "But I thought it was just you and Sparky having a go at it. I thought I finally got you two to work it out." I blush. Go at it? Oh. I run my hand through my hair and play with my skirt. This is sufficiently awkward. "I'll have to keep a closer watch then," she adds. "How didn't you sense her there? I thought your sense could feel-"

"No," I cut her off. "I'm still new at it, and my mind wasn't focused enough to notice anyone." That would've been helpful. I could have had a wall of water on her if I had sensed her. I could have pinned her down before she could even attempt to get at me.

"That's unfortunate," she replies. "Maybe I can tutor you or something. Are you going to teach the misfits this?" The who? I hear Io yell out in protest and I realize that she means my students. Oh, well. That's Toph for you. Making nicknames for everyone, flattering or not. I'm really just getting used to Sugar Queen.

"I don't know yet," I say. "I want to, but you know what it involves." Toph rolled her blind eyes.

"They're not your kids, Katara," she replies, with some irritation in her voice. "If anything, it would be wise to teach them all of it." I move to protest, but she stops me. "If we had never met Hama, would you even know anything about this ability?" I shake my head. "My point exactly."

"Who's Hama?" Io asks. I look at her, a sad smile on my face as I recall that wretched woman. She seemed so nice, so humble. She was the only person I could really relate to, and I got it thrown back in my face. She contorted my body. She could have killed me that night if I hadn't fought back. Maybe that was her goal.

"That's a story for another ti-"

"Katara," Toph cuts me off. "Don't baby them." Yin looks at me, a confused, curious look on her face. Io just looks flat out confused. I'm about to speak when Onyx walks into the room.

"What're we talking about?" he asks. "I was out by the turtle-duck pond, waiting for you guys, but nobody came." He sits down in a chair and has this oblivious look on his face.

"Katara's going to tell you little misfits a story." I see Onyx nod.

"Well then," he says, gesturing for me to start. "By all means." I take a deep breath. I was hoping that I wouldn't have to tell anyone about this, but I guess I have to now. Toph will never let this go.

"Okay," I say. "You know how there are a few subforms for every bending art?"

"Like metalbending?" Yin asks.

"Yes," I say. "Exactly so. Well the same goes for all of the other elements. Waterbending happens to have three subforms. There's healing, plantbending-" I take a deep breath before saying the last one. "-and bloodbending." Everyone's eyes, except for Toph's, are wide. "It's not a very widely-practiced form of waterbending, but it's powerful."

"Have you done it?" I hear Yin ask. I nod.

"I didn't really have a choice."

"Why?" Io asks me.

"It all started three years ago," I say. "While the war was still going on. Aang, Sokka, Toph and I were on our way through the Fire Nation for the Day of Black Sun. We ran into this woman, Hama, who revealed herself as a waterbender from the Southern Tribe. Back then, she and I were the only two left." I shuffle around on my cushion and run my hand through my hair. This is nerve-racking. I hate telling this story. It would be better for them not to know. Hama is gone and never coming back. There's no reason for them to know about her or what she started. "She taught me a lot about the water that lies in plants and the air," I continue. "But she also had plans for something else." I take a deep breath. "She created this style of bending using only the fluids in a person's body. She called it bloodbending."

I see Io's get this disgusted look on her face. Yin doesn't look that affected, but she's a little creeped out. Onyx, well, he just looks interested. He looks like doesn't really understand it, but he wants to know more.

"I refused to learn it," I explain. "But she forced me."  
"How?" Io asks, but the tone in her voice alludes to the idea that she already knows.

"She used it on me and after I managed to fight out of it," I continue. "She turned it on Aang and Sokka." I hear Io gasp. "She was going to have Sokka use his sword on Aang. When you have someone under your control, you can make them practically do anything. It's sick." I remember the feeling that I got when I used bloodbending on that Hama. It is a horrible feeling to have someone's blood in your grip. It's different than bending regular water. Regular water is fluid and movable. Blood is inside of a body. It's inside of organs. You feel trapped and it's disgusting.

"I had to use bloodbending to stop her from killing Aang," I say. "I know she would have probably killed us all if I hadn't done it, but it was still wrong. It's a terrible thing to do to someone." I am about to continue, but Onyx interrupts me.

"You did what you had to do," he says. "It's not like you've become a career bloodbender like her, right?" That's the thing. I've used it a total of three times, not even counting the times I've used this blood-sense thing. I think about the look on Aang's face after I bloodbended him away. He didn't deserve that.

"I used it more than once, Onyx," I say. "The second time I used it, I did it perfectly. No flaws whatsoever. I did it out of rage, anger. It's an unhealthy and tainted art."

"What happened to Hama," Io asks. "You know, after you got her?"

"I showed up with the calvary," Toph jumps in. "What do you think happened? I brought of citizens that she captured to handcuff her and send her hagged ass to jail."

"So," Onyx says. "She just got locked up in a prison? No special guards? Nothing substantial to guard her?"

"We were under the radar," I explain. "The world still thought Aang was dead. We were lucky that they didn't notice who we were. Any case, her limbs were bound and she was put in prison. There's no way she could have escaped."

"Yeah," Toph snaps. "She's probably worm chow right now, so there's nothing to worry about."

"Just in case you're wrong," Onyx says, standing up. "I want to learn as much about it just in case we happen to run into her or anyone like her."

"Why?" I ask. "It's pointless." I can't understand why anyone would want to learn to do something so horrible. Hama is dead. She has to be. There's no way that she escaped. Even on the full moons, she couldn't break through the binds. They were metal.

"You've got a firebending prodigy with lightning bolts that could take out a whale in one shot hunting you down," he says to me. "I seriously doubt that she's the only one that isn't that fond of you. War involves two different sides fighting. I bet there are more of Hama's type out there. Do you really want us to be defenseless?" I stand up. He's being so ridiculous. We are in one of the most protected places in the world and he's worried about a hypothetical theory that might not even be true? No. I won't teach them that.

"It's a curse to have that skill," I say. "You can't even comprehend the horrific feeling that it gives. Bloodbending is a curse. It's not something to be taken lightly."

"I'm not taking it lightly!" Onyx yells.

"Then how are you taking it?" I snap. "I'm the master here. I decide what and what not to teach." I see him storm out of the room and slam the door behind him. I go to follow, but Yin holds me back.

"I've got this." she says to me. I watch her leave the room, leaving the door open behind her. I sit back down and Io sits in silence. I can't teach them this stuff. It's too dark. It's evil. I don't know why, I just can't fathom why anyone would want to learn something so terrible. No matter the benefits, because the moral cons are stacked against whatever pro can be found. If we encounter someone who can bloodbend, I can overcome it. I'm not going to teach my students something that is completely immoral in every way. It's a blatant invasion of a person's body. It's wrong. It's just wrong.

* * *

ONYX'S POV

I run through the halls of the palace, pushing through servants, trying to get some air. I make it into the courtyard and I sit in front of the turtle-duck pond. Katara is so ridiculous. This bloodbending thing obviously bugs her to the core, and for good reason. From what she said about that Hama woman, it would scar anyone, but that's all the more reason to teach us about it. A part of me just wanted to know more about it solely because it could save our lives. If that Hama woman came back, Katara might not be able to beat her. She did it once, sure, but without a leveled playing field, she'll be overpowered. We all barely made it out of a fight with Azula. A lightning-throwing insane ex-Princess with blue fire hot enough to melt bodies in half is bad enough. I can't even imagine going up against someone who could control us from the inside out. That's just crazy. It's scary.

I look into the pond and I watch the little fish swim under the turtle-ducks. It's so precious. I put my hand over the water and I concentrate. I need to learn to defend myself, with or without Katara's help. I clench my hand into a fist and all of the sudden, one of the fish stops moving. It squirms for a second, but it's now completely immobile. I move my hand up a little and the fish moves with it. I release it and jump back. I did it. I bloodbended.

I gulp. This is crazy. The feeling was just weird. Having something under your control, even a small fish is just painful. It's almost like the liquid is trapped, with no way of getting out. This must be what Katara meant by a curse. I can imagine. If someone had to do this constantly, it would drive them insane. Having to constantly contort and control bodies to survive, making people their puppets, it would make them lose their minds.

"Onyx!" I hear someone yell from behind me. I turn to see Yin running after me. I swear, she's like a Katara double. She would mother the world if she could, and feels like it's her duty to help everyone with their problems. It's fucking annoying.

"Leave me alone." I spit out. Why can't she just go away. I don't wanna talk to anyone. I'm so confused right now, and she's one of the last people on my list that I'd want to bug me.

"No," she replies. "We need to talk about this. Katara just doesn't want us to learn that stuff. I don't blame her."  
"But," I shoot back. "Do you know how useful this could be against Azula. If she's unable to move, she's a sitting duck!" Yin sits next to me.

"I'm not saying that the skill isn't useful," she says. "I just agree that it's better not to know something like that. It's too powerful." I give her a look of confusion. This is coming from the woman who once told me that all she'd like is to be the most powerful waterbender in the world. Ugh. Hypocrites.

"It's powerful, yeah," I say. "But so is she. We barely made it out alive last time. Without something to throw in there, we might not be so lucky." I look away. I can't even look at Yin. They're all so blinded that they can't see the reality of this situation.

"Can you try to talk this out with Katara," she says. "I know that it might not be the wisest idea, but she's our master. She has good intentions."

"How can I talk to someone who will just shoot me down?"

"She won't-"  
"Yes," I say. "She will. Hama scarred her. I'm not going to get anywhere with her." Yin looks at me with sadness before getting up to leave.

"I'm sorry." she says. I watch her walk away and my body just hurts. I'm not wrong. I'm looking out for everyone. I'm looking to keep us alive. I let out a growl and look into the pond. The fish swim around and watch the little one that struggles behind. That's the one I grabbed. I can see it as it swims away from me. It's scared. I made that fear. I look up at the sun and for a second, it seems a little brighter than usual. I look down and shake it off. I stand to walk away, but the area around me just looks fuzzy. I try to walk forward, but I fall down. I can hear Yin scream my name from far away as I try to look around. My vision's fading, but not to black. No, it's bright. It's rich. By the time Yin reaches me, I can only see gold. It's like my eyes are shrouded by a tint, and there's nothing else. It's only a matter of minutes before I pass out.

* * *

YIN'S POV

_A MINUTE PRIOR_

I walk away. I have to walk away. There's no getting through to him. He's convinced himself that Katara won't let him talk, so he won't even take a chance. It's childish, but that's how he's going to be. I'm almost to the exit of the courtyard when I hear a growl. I turn to see Onyx, standing up. Huh, maybe he's come to his senses. I look closer and I can see him stumbling. I yell for him.

"Onyx!" No response. It's then that things get stranger. His eyes glow a gold color. Not just the irises, either. Both of his eyes glow gold. He falls to the ground and I run for him, screaming his name. When I reach him, I try to shake him out of whatever's happening. He doesn't speak. I call for help, and within a minute, three guards surround me.

"What's happened, ma'am?" one of them asks.

"Does it look like I know?" I snap. I look down at the my glowing friend laying in front of me. "We need to get him to Katara," I say. "We'll know what to do then." One of the guards picks him up and we start off for Toph's room. That's where she was last. We get into the Dark Wing, and thankfully, she's still there. I barge into the room and she's talking with Toph. Catching "sight" of me, Toph looks up. Katara turns her head and when she see's Onyx, aglow and unconscious, she stands.

"What happened?" Her voice is frantic and worrisome.

"I have no idea," I say. "We were arguing and the next minute he was on the ground, glowing." Katara looks him over and gives me a stumped look.

"Take him to his room," she says. "I'll be there in a minute with some help. If he wakes up before I get there, yell for me as loud as you can." She runs out of the room and the guards walk him out of the room. We do as she told us to, and take him to his room. We lay him on his bed. He's still glowing, but he isn't moving. His heart is beating, but he doesn't speak. I'm so worried. I put my hand in his and I try to force a smile.

"C'mon, Onyx," I say. "Get your sarcastic ass up. Don't die on us."

* * *

AZULA'S POV

I am fast asleep when I hear a whistle. I jump out of the tree where I slept for the moment, and brushed off my clothes before getting into a fighting position. Apparently, Hama heard it, too, because she jumped out of her tree next. I look for the source and when I find it, I go to shoot it down. Hama stops me, and right as I'm about to question why, the Dark Spirit walks from the bushes.

"You couldn't be a little less in the shadows, could you?" I say, with sarcasm in my tone. "It's getting a little annoying."

"Force of habit," The Dark Spirit says, walking closer to us. "I did not think it would upset you so much, Princess Azula."

"Cut the shit," I say. "Why do you feel the need to interrupt my sleep?" I see Hama shake her head in disappointment and I roll my eyes. Stupid water hag. She doesn't need "beauty sleep". It wouldn't work for her. She's too ancient.

"I thought you would like to know that your window is slowly opening to attack," she says. "The prophecy is starting to work itself into position."

"What prophecy?"

"I was getting to that," she snaps back. "If you would let me finish." I roll my eyes. Stupid fucking spirit. Who is she to argue with me. She's nothing. Just like this Hama woman. Absolutely nothing compared to me.

"Fine," I say. "Continue."

"Long ago," she explains. "Legend told of two warriors first separated by their respected loyalties who would find each other and fall in love. They are children of the sun and the moon. It is said that when the two finally find each other, another warrior would rise to defend the innocent. This warrior is called the Gem." This is boring. I don't want to sit and listen to story time. I'm not six. Agni, when I was six, I was lighting dolls and gardens ablaze for fun. I didn't have time for love stories before bed.

"I don't understand why you're telling us this," I say. "It's pointless. We are out to find Katara, not some Gem."

"But that's the thing, Princess," she replies. "For you to complete your task, the gem must be out of the way or you will never truly have your vengeance." I narrow my eyes. Another fucking stop in the road? You've got to be kidding me. Just as I think it's going to be easy from here on out, another thing is thrown in between.

"So, what now," I ask. "Do we have to wait for this gem to come to the surface? I'm sick and tired of waiting!" Fire fumes from my fists and the Dark Spirit only shakes it's head.  
"That part of your journey has already been completed," she says. "The gem has been awakened. Find the gem, rid the world of it before purity is eternally restored." That makes no sense. I don't even know where to go to find this gem, let alone on a time limit I don't understand. Fucking spirits! I go to ask about the location of this Gem, but The Dark Spirit vanishes. I shoot a wave of fire at a tree and it bursts into flames. Hama puts the flame out, and turns to me.

"Well that was sufficiently helpful," she says sarcastically. "What are we going to do now?" I have smirk on my face.

"I bet that little Gem is with Katara," I say. "Think about it. The Dark Spirit would have told us where to go if we didn't already know."

"So where do we go?"

"The Royal Palace," I say. "It's time for a little family reunion."

* * *

ONYX'S POV

_Stars. That's all I can see. They surround me, pulling me higher and higher into a hoard of clouds. I feel free. I feel delivered. I am almost at the sun when I start to fall. I try to scream out, but no sound comes. I can only hear the rush of the wind as I plummet down to the ground below. I hit the ground almost like I'm on ball of air. I sit up and I look around me. I'm in a meadow, with beautiful orchid flowers and wildlife around. I stand up and walk around. There appears to be no humans around. That's strange. I see something coming in the distance, a woman? She has long black hair, part tied into a topknot, part fallen to the ground. _

_As she gets closer to me, I can see her more clearly. She's obviously of Fire Nation descent, by the color of her eyes. They are golden, but they have more of a yellow twist to them. I watch her walk. Her long flowing robe prevents the sight of her feet, so it almost looks like she's floating on air. She is about three feet from me when she stops. _

_"Hello, Onyx." she says._

_"How do you know my name?" _

_"I know many things," She takes a step closer to me. "I know more about you than you know yourself." I shake my head. No. I know myself to the core. There's nothing I don't know. _

_"Like what?" I say. If she knows so much, she should be able to give an example. _

_"I know that you are confused right now," she says. "and I also know that you want nothing more than to know the identity of your parents." I stop. No one, except for my mom and dad know that I'm adopted. Well, they're not my blood parents, but other than them, no one else knows. Or so I thought. Who else knows? This is screwed up. Who is this woman and how does she know these things. _

_"H-H-How do you-" _

_"Because I know who your parents are," she says. "And they aren't from the Northern Water Tribe." But I'm a waterbender. The only possible way that I could have my bending is if my parents were from the Water Tribe. That's how bending talents come about. You get the bending style of your birth nation. That's why I'm moving oceans instead of lighting fires or moving mountains. I'd like to move mountains, though. It sounds pretty awesome. _

_"Who are they then?" I say. "Tell me. If you know so much-" _

_"All in good time, my child," she cuts me off. "But for now, I must tell you what I know about your destiny." My destiny? Oh, spirits. _

_"Alright," I reply. "Tell me, then." The woman nods and waves her arm, bringing us to a forest, bright and illuminant. Rabbit-moles are hopping along and birds are flying in the air. I smile at the sight. It's almost like everything is at peace. Everything is so pure. _

_"Where are we?" I ask._

_"This is the Pure Forest," she replies. "Just watch. This is your destiny." She waves her arm, and the scene changes. We're still in the forest, but it's on fire. People in white robes are screaming and I see three people, fighting off a woman in black. They're waterbenders. I look closer and I see that one of them is me. I watch myself get pushed back farther and farther before I fall onto my ass. The other two fighters are thrown to the side and the woman in black comes closer to the vision me. I see a wave of light and then an orb of gold surrounding where the vision me was. _

_The scene goes away and we are back to the meadow where we started. The Fire Nation woman looks at me, a smile on her face. _

_"Why are you smiling?" I spit out. "That forest was-" _

_"Some things are not what they appear to be, my child," she says. "Long ago, legend told of a warrior born to protect the innocent. That warrior is you, Onyx." What? I'm so confused. That can't be. _

_"No," I say. "You've got it all wrong. I can't be a chosen warrior! I'm still in training!" _

_"You are the Gem," she replies, her voice unchanged. "You cannot change it. Embrace it." I nod. Even though I don't believe it, I guess it's true. If this spirit woman is telling me this, and I went through that vision bullshit, it must be true. Mother of Yue. Why does this shit happen to me? First, I get treated like a sea urchin by Master Pakku just because I used a different style than him. Seriously, just because I preferred what I now know is a firebending form in my waterbending, he was completely against me. Prick. And now this? Wow, just wow. This is too much. _

_"You will return to the physical world now, my child," she concludes. "A danger is approaching. Remember your destiny. Remember your purpose." _

_"Wait," I say. "What's your name?" She presses her finger against my head and fades away with a breeze of wind. _

I jolt up. I'm in a bed. I look around me. Katara, Io and Yin are all surrounding my bed. Avatar Aang and Guru Pahtik are there, too, along with Toph and a few servants. Yin grabs my hand, tears in her eyes.

"Thank the spirits," she says. "You're okay!" I just stare into space. I think about the woman who showed me those visions. I asked her her name and I got it. It is in my brain, and sounds familiar, but I don't know from where. I speak it, trying to understand where I know it from.

"Ursa."

* * *

**Author's Note: So, we finally find out who the Gem is! Yes!**

**Next chapter should be up soon. **

**Sorry about the constant POV switches. I couldn't think of another way to approach what goes on in this chapter. **

**Review, please! I really enjoy feedback!**


	9. Chapter 8: Realization Part One

**Author's Note:**

**Sorry it's taken me so long to post this chapter. I'm still not that confident in it, but I've worked out most of the kinks that I could see. **

**I really appreciate the reviews! They're really helping me and I really love getting feedback! You guys are awesome!**

* * *

KATARA'S POV

He's awake. Thank the spirits. I look at my eldest student with a smile of joy. For a second there, I wasn't sure that he'd wake up. He had been out for a few hours, and after the glowing went away, we thought he was dead, but after all of that waiting, he woke up. The second he woke up, he looked very frantic. Granted, he was in a bed in the Royal Infirmary. Anyone waking up there would be a little surprised or shocked. We all watched for a moment, wondering what he was going to say or do. We were all still a little shocked that he was alive.

"Ursa." His voice was distinctive, a little out of breath, confused. Ursa. Where have I heard that name before. I rack my brain until it hits me. I heard it for the first time at Zuko's coronation. Ursa. Zuko's mother. But why-

"What happened?" he says, his voice now a little clearer.

"You passed out," Yin answers. "But you were glowing. It was kind of weird." I see him nod and start to get out of bed. Io and Yin rush to put him back into bed.

"No," they say in unison.

"You're going to stay in bed," Io says, her voice a little more adult. "No one just recovers on the spot after something like that." He waves them away and stands up out of bed. He moves a little wobbly at first before starting to walk. He walks over to me and puts his hand on my shoulder.

"Will you walk me to the kitchen," he says. "I'm starving." I nod. Something tells me that he doesn't want to get out of the infirmary just for food. Typical men, always trying to act like they're invincible. I walk him out of the room and Aang follows quickly behind.

"Do you need any help, Katara?" he says, curiosity in his voice.

"No," I say. "Thanks, but I've got this under control." I put Onyx's arm over my shoulder and we walk down the hallway. Thankfully, no one follows. I'm so glad that Aang took that hint. Ever since Zuko and I, well, connected on things, I have really been worried about being around Aang. I love him like a brother, and even though he knows that, he still loves me more. While there's nothing I can do about that, I can try to keep my distance as much as possible. He's a great friend, but I know that he won't be able to take it well if Zuko and I go further with each other.

Onyx and I make it to the kitchen within minutes and when I sit him down on a chair, all of his muscles relax.  
"What's wrong?" He jumps a little.

"Nothing," he quickly responds. "I have no idea what you're talking abou-"

"You and I both know that you didn't just want to come here for the food," I say. "Even if it's to die for." A servant walks over to us quickly and bows. She's a short woman with long gray hair tied into a bun.

"Can I get something for either of you?" she says, smiling.

"Yeah," Onyx replies. "I'd like a couple cherry fruit tarts, please." The woman nods and turns to me. I smile at her softly and think for a second.

"Just a small sandwich would be nice," I say. "And some Spiced Dragon Tea. Iroh has been raving about it for months in his letters."

"Good choice," she says. "Any tea for you, dear?" I see him nod and she scurries off. The servants in this palace are so nice. I haven't met one that isn't cheery and happy. To a point, it used to give me the creeps, but I think I'm getting used to it. They aren't like the Joo-Dees from Ba Sing Se, who kept smiles all day every day, but in a fake sense. These servants really look like they enjoy their job. I guess that maybe it's because Zuko treats them so well. He doesn't have it in him to be mean to anyone, let alone innocent servants. I watch them run around, cooking and setting things up. It just gets me thinking about what it would be like to live here everyday. I mean, Zuko lives here every day and he loves it. It must be wonderful. I start to think about what it's like to live as a Royal. My father is the chief of my tribe, but at the same time, no one treats my brother or I like royalty. We're treated like normal citizens and I think that's how it should be. I understand that things are different in the Fire Nation, but if I were ever to live here, I wouldn't want to be treated any different than how I am now.

The servant returns with our tea and food within a few minutes. I take a bite of my sandwich and it's delicious. A couple slices of meat with some greens on some bread. Just perfect. Onyx looks like he's enjoying his food, too, as he scarfs it down.

"This is so good," he says. "Why don't we have these back home?" I laugh.

"Because," I say. "We have ice and snow. It's not like gardens are easily planted in the dead cold ground." He looks at me with a serious face for a few seconds before bursting out laughing. We laugh together, joking around. I take a sip of me tea, and it's really hot. I cough a little, but it goes down. It's good, though. I'll have to write Iroh about it.

"So," I say. "I know the food's good, but why are we down here?" Onyx stops eating for a few seconds and takes a deep breath.

"I just have a lot on my mind," he replies. "I didn't want to lay in a hospital bed all day."

"I know that," I say. "What I want to know is what happed to you. People don't just glow it up out of nowhere and end up unconscious on random. Well, except for Aang. I could see that happening to him." Onyx doesn't respond and I decide to pry a little more. Something about this just really interested me. Something about him just seemed off the edge. It was almost identical to how I acted when I had that vision-dream. But, I didn't glow or pass out, so that can't be it. Can it? I decide just to ask him and get an answer. "Did you have a vision of Ursa?" I see his eyes open a little wider and he looks at me.

"What?"  
"Ursa," I say. "You said her name when you woke up. I had a vision of her not too long ago, so I was wondering if that's what happened to you." The look on his face says it all.

"Yeah," he takes another bite out of one of his fruit tarts. "It was pretty weird. I didn't really think it was anything special until she actually started to show me stuff." My eyes widen and I grab his hand. I know that Ursa's advice wasn't a prophecy, but she told about this gem that Aang already knew about. Maybe Onyx knows what it is. If not, maybe he could have an idea.

"Like what?" I touch his hand. "Did she mention a gem?" Onyx pulls away from my hand and nods. Great! My heart beats a little faster. What could it be? Could we find it? I hope it isn't too far away.

"Yeah," he says. "She mentioned it. Pretty heavily."

"And?" I ask. "Do you know where it is? Or what it is?"

"It's not a what," he shoots back. "It's a who. And it's pretty close by." I see his face droop a little and I know immediately. It's him. He's the gem. That's the reason he glowed. That's the reason he had the vision. Come to think of it, Zuko and I kissed just earlier today. It all makes sense. When the Sun and the Moon find their dawn, the gem will reveal itself. It all adds up perfectly.

"It's you," I say. "Isn't it?" He nods. "What does it mean, though," I ask. "Do you have a quest or something? Don't most 'gems' have quests that they need to complete?" I see him shrug.

"She told me that I am to protect the innocent," he replies. "But she showed me fighting a woman in this forest. I can't piece any of it together. It's so-"

"Katara?" I hear a voice say from behind me. I turn to see Aang. Shit. Mother of Yue, can't he give me some space?  
"Yeah, Aang?" I ask, a hint of annoyance in my voice.

"You guys were gone for a little while longer than we thought," he says. "So I came down to check on you." I roll my eyes. Of course. It would be the exact moment that we were onto something big that Aang would just waltz in. Wait. He knows about the gem. Maybe he knows something.

"We're fine," I say. "But there's something we need to ask you." Aang nods and I continue on to ask him. "What do you know about the gem?" Onyx keeps quiet and looks away a little.

"Nothing much," he says. "Except for that I have to find it and deliver it to a forest." Onyx turns to Aang and I can see he's connected something together.

"Avatar Aang," he jumps up. "In this forest, were there people in white robes?" Aang nods. "You have to take me there!"

"Why?"

"Because I'm the gem."

* * *

AZULA'S POV

We have finally made it. When we get close enough to the gates of the Capital Island, Hama pulls us underwater. She hovers a bubble around us and we levitate up around and onto the land beside the gates. I immediately look for guards. No. None. Poor little Zuzu must not have been vigilant enough to expect an attack. Ha! He has that wretched bitch Katara in there and he doesn't think I will come to get her? Please, Zuzu. Don't make me laugh.

"How do we get in?" Hama asks me, determination in her voice. I turn to her and narrow my eyes.

"In broad daylight?" I ask in blatant disbelief. I would think a woman smart enough to figure out how to maneuver bodies like ragdolls under her bending would have the intelligence to remember that we are on a heavily guarded island. The sight of me would bring all of the unwanted attention by every guard possible. "No," I say. "We will go later, as the night approaches." I look again for guards. There are none nearby, but I stay vigilant. Hama approaches from behind me.

"Then where do we hide out beforehand?" I look around for somewhere to hide. I can't find one spot. Everything is so open. I fucking loath my brother for his surprisingly efficiency. There isn't a single place for me to-

"What about there?" Hama asks. She points to the wall. There are little ventilation holes where water travels through. "I can clear the moisture out and then we can wait until the sun sets to attack." I smirk. Perfect. No one will think to look there, and even if they did, they are up against the Fire Princess and a skilled bloodbender. I think we would be fine in any case of attack.

"Good," I say. "You're almost clever enough to be a firebender." I hear her make a sound of disgust.

"I'd rather be dead." she snaps back. I watch the old bloodbender walk toward the wall. The thought occurs to me that after I get Katara, there is no more need for her. She is a loose end that would need tying up. I watch her start to waterbend and I smirk. She'd rather be dead? That could be arranged.

* * *

KATARA'S POV

"You're the gem?!" Aang nearly screams. "Why didn't you tell me this sooner?" Onyx rolls his eyes and snaps back.

"Because I only just found out today," he stands out of his seat. "And, also, because I had no idea you even knew about this! Why didn't you tell us?" I can feel his blood pumping. Onyx is pissed off. I can tell. I reach up to calm him down and he pushes my arm away. I stand and grab his arms.

"Calm down," I say. "Aang probably has a good reason why he didn't tell us." I turn to Aang. "Don't you?" Aang shuffles a little.

"Actually," he says with nervousness in his tone. "I was too worried about Azula coming after you. It completely slipped my mind. I asked you about it once, but after you told me that you didn't know anything about a gem, I didn't think of it again. I've been too preoccupied."

"With what?" Onyx snaps. "Following Katara around like a little puppy dog? If it hasn't occurred to you yet, she doesn't love you like that anymore! She's found someone else." What? I haven't- My heart stops. Oh, no. Zuko. We aren't even officially together or anything. How does he know about that? It just happened literally five or six hours ago.

"You have?" Aang asks me. I turn to him and I think before I make my next action. Are Zuko and I together? No. We kissed, sure, but that doesn't mean that we were together. He and I are going to have to talk about this later. Ugh. I look over to Aang and I realize that it's been nearly thirty seconds since a reply. "Katara," he pries. "Are you with someone else." I gulp and just let it out.

"I don't know," I blurt out. "And even if I was, it's not your business!"

"Is it him?" Aang gestures to Onyx. The two of us look at each other and I make an 'ew' face.

"He's my student!"

"So," Aang says. "I was your student once, too!" I gasp.

"And where did that get us, huh?" I ask, now extremely upset. "Your heart is broken and you can't help but try to salvage a relationship that was never going to work!" I slam my hand on the table and growl. This is so ridiculous! Aang is such a jealous child! I storm out of the kitchen and find myself passing the Royal portraits. I reach the curtain to the throne room and I walk in unannounced. Zuko is in the middle of a conversation with a military-looking man when I walk in. The man looks at me and huffs. Zuko turns to see me and gives me a curious look.

"Katara," he says. "I was just meeting with Admiral Keto to brief him on some strategies to remove occupations in the Earth Kingdom. There are so many soldiers that it's almost becoming impossible to remove them all from active duty." I mentally kick myself. He's in a meeting. I've just interrupted a meeting of importance. If it wasn't important, the admiral wouldn't be giving me a distasteful look right now.

"I apologize for the intrusion," I say. "But I require your assistance as soon are you're finished, Zu-" I correct myself. "Fire Lord." I walk out of the throne room, an immense blush of nerves on my cheek. I should have at least bowed, or something when I busted in there. Wow. I do so much for the representation of my people. You go, Katara. You're a joy to your tribe.

I walk into my room and when I get there, Onyx is sitting on my bed. He looks up at me, tears in his eyes. I see him look back down almost immediately and I run over to him.

"What's wrong?" I ask. I get no response. He looks terrible, almost disheveled. I touch his hand and he moves away from me. "What's wrong, Onyx," I repeat my question. "You look terrible."

"Thanks," he replies, in a deep tone. "That makes me feel all better." I could feel that sarcasm. Ouch. I sit next to him and he distances himself a little.

"C'mon," I say. "You can tell me anything." He looks at me and then back down at his feet. I nudge him a little, but he gets up and starts to walk for my door. It opens and Zuko walks in. I see Onyx look at Zuko and then at me. He walks out, slamming the door.

"What's up with him?" Zuko asks.

"Don't know," I stand up from the bed. "I'm sorry about interrupting your meeting. I just-" I'm silenced by his lips on mine, a heat surging through my body. I wrap my arms around his neck and he pushes me onto the bed. No. No, I need to tell him about Aang. I need to tell him about the gem. I push up a little from the kiss.

"We need to talk about something," I look to my left a little, trying to keep my eyes from falling into his golden irises. "Well, a few things, actually." He sits up and takes out his topknot, letting his jaw length black hair fall. I feel my jaw tighten slightly. I haven't seen his hair down at all since we arrived, and he still had the same teenage look in his eyes; the same spark. Even now, with the stress of being the ruler of a recovering country, he still has that teenage spark in his eyes that I think is the reason that I feel so drawn to him. I feel so relaxed, like nothing is wrong when I look into his eyes, and right now, I need to be grounded, so I try to look away.

"What's wrong?" His voice is both curious and concerned at the same time. I think about how to say all of this and I decide to just break it down. It might be easier to take that way, right? Ugh. I can't even think right now. I look at him and my thoughts all just focus on him, nothing else. I have to get focused on the problems at hand. Aang. The gem. Onyx. Azula. I had almost completely forgotten the reason that I wasn't still in the South Pole right now. I had almost forgotten that a vengeful firebending prodigy with blue fire was hunting me down, ready to take me down. She has a lightning bolt ready with my name on it and I'm sitting here worrying about a boy? Sure, he's a man now, but still. Ugh. I try and focus and I just spit it all out.

"Do you remember that gem that Guru Pahtik mentioned to us?"

"Yeah," he replies. "Did you have another dream?"

"No."

"But-"

"We are the Sun and the Moon, I think," I cut him off. "And after what happened this morning, well, the gem revealed itself, just like your mother said." I see Zuko's eyes just look at me, all sorts of emotions on his face. The bead of sweat coming down his brow meant nervousness, while the smile on his face meant excitement.

"So," he pries. "What is it?"

"It's not a what," I reply. "It's a who."

"A who?" he asks, confused. I am about to speak when the ground shakes a little. It's probably Toph. To no shock, Toph comes bursting into my room, Io and Yin following behind her.

"Hey," she screams at us. "The two of you can make out later! Aang has Appa ready out back. We need to-" An explosion is heard in the distance. I hear a maniacal laugh and my body tenses. Azula.

* * *

AZULA'S POV

I am home. I burst through the front gates, shooting people left and right with my fire daggers. I see them fall and I laugh loudly. I want Katara to hear me coming. I know she is here. I know it. I reach the front door of the palace and I smile to myself. I take a deep breath and kick down the door with a powerful blast.

"Your princess is home!" I expect a greeting, or something like that. They are still my servants, whether they like it or not. I wait for them to come assist me, but no. No, that doesn't happen. They take aim at me, ready to fire. "This is how you treat your Princess," I scream at them. "You should be ashamed. I'll teach you a lesson." I begin my onslaught. Firing bolts back and forth, armored guards fall to their stomachs in pain. I laugh loudly, embracing my success. I am taking out poor little Zuzu's guards. I wonder what he will do once I find him. Will he try to fight me? Ha! That would be hilarious.

"Zuzu!" I scream. "Oh, Zuzu! I've come for my throne! Did you keep it nice and warm for me?" I laugh and shoot down a few more guards. This is too easy. Hama hasn't even bothered to follow me in yet. We are waiting until I have Katara in my sights to unleash her on that little bitch. I reach the Fire Lord portraits. Oh, poor Zuzu. He didn't even get his painting done. He must have finally let it sink in that his hideous face shouldn't be anywhere near the great Fire Lords of years past.

I walk over to my father's portrait. Oh Agni, Father. I will find a way to restore your bending. I promise. We will make you a Fire Lord again. You will be in your rightful place on the throne. Oh, Father. I promise that I will-

"Azula!" I hear a familiar rasp scream. Zuzu. I turn to see my brother glaring at me, his Fire Lord robes no longer. He wears simple clothing, How can he let himself dress like that? What if his people were to see him like this? Oh, Zuzu. Shameful. Just shameful.

"Oh," I say, sarcasm dripping from my tongue. "There you are Zuzu. I've been absolutely dying to see the palace for years. Hasn't changed much. Same old wallpaper, same old furniture. You never were one to-"

"Stop this madness, Azula," he yells at me. "Surrender. You're outnumbered." I snicker.

"Where's Katara?" I ask, venom in my tone.

"Gone."

"Liar." I can sense his nervousness. I smile as I see Katara come running for him. Oh, this will be easy. "Well, Zuzu," I say. "It's been nice seeing you, but I have an old enemy to fry. Thanks for chatting, though." I shoot a bolt of fire at him, and even though he blocks it, he goes flying into the wall. I walk forward toward Katara and smile. I see her prepare to strike and my smile gets bigger. Come and get it.

* * *

KATARA'S POV

Azula. In the palace. The one place that we thought we were safe and she found us. I am standing nearly ten feet away from her. She looks happy, almost ecstatic about the scene around her.. I grimace. She's a complete sociopath. Of course she's going to love this. I ready a stance to fight her, but she doesn't get ready for anything. She's faking me out. I'm going to stop my stance and then she will attack. I have to think like her, as much as I detest it. She's always one step ahead, but now I've leveled the playing field.

"What do you want from me, Azula?" I say. "You finally have me and I'm ready to fight. Why don't you-"  
"Katara!" I hear someone call from behind me. I turn to see Sokka running with Io, Yin, Toph, and Aang. They stand beside me and within minutes, the three of them run to duel Azula. I go to move forward, but I sense someone coming near my direction. By the heartbeat, it's someone older or extremely tired, but strong at the same time. I can't understand it until I turn to see who it is. My body tenses up and I can see her. The woman who haunts my nightmares. The woman who turned me into a monster. The sickest human being alive. I speak her name, only to register that I still move my muscles.

"Hama."

* * *

**Author's Note: So, that's chapter eight! Please, review! I love to hear from you guys about what you think of the chapters and the story so far! I love criticism, so if you have any ideas or problems that you see, don't be afraid to just say it in the review! :)**

**Next chapter should be up early this coming week. I want to say around Monday or Tuesday, but that's just a random guess. It'll definitely be up by Thursday!**


	10. Chapter 9: Realization Part Two

**Author's Note: Here's Chapter Nine! **

* * *

KATARA'S POV

"Hama." I say the name almost with a sense of complete obscurity. It's almost like I'm trying to hush it down, so that I can try to convince myself that I'm back in one of my nightmares. I see that sinister smirk on her face and I know that she's real. She isn't some nightmare that I can wake myself from anymore. She's alive and in front of me, a deadly grin shooting at me; taunting me to come closer.

"It has been some time since we have seen each other, Katara," she says, getting into a battle stance. "I'll be sure that it's the last." I gulp. I just think of the three years that it has been since our fight. She can only have gotten better since then, mastering her techniques. I get into a stance and the duel begins. A jet of water immediately comes flying toward me. I jump out of the way and try to think on my feet. I look around for some water or an area where I can pull some out. I grab some of the water in the air and throw her back. I take a deep breath and start of running down the hall. I can feel her following. Her blood is pumping and pumping to the highest degree. She doesn't just want to injure me. She wants to kill me. I feel a second person following, but I don't turn to see who. I can only assume that it's Azula. She will do anything to get me.

I stop as I reach the turtle-duck pond. Grass, trees, and a pond. This should work. I turn to face the two coming closer and I see that it is, to my dismay, Azula following behind Hama. I pull some water from the pond and I ready myself. I don't want to fight them both. If I do, I'll waste out all of my energy. They both want to kill me.

"No more running, Katara," Azula snaps. "Die like the insufferable peasant that you are!" She shoots a blast of fire at me and I move out of the way. Enraged by this, I stay vigilant as she starts to throw wild blasts. Maybe I can wait her out. Maybe her fire will dim down once she starts to tire out. "HAMA!" I hear her scream. "Trap this whore with your powers! I will not have my prey dodge my every move. She needs to die." I see Hama come near me and I take a deep breath. I regulate my body flow and I can feel Hama's try to use her grip on me. Nothing happens. I can still freely move. Azula, furious, shoots a bolt of lightning at me.

"She can't use that on me, Azula," I taunt. "Your little hope to pin me down is gone." I shoot a dagger of ice at her and she moves out of the way. Hama comes in for the attack and I try to evade her attacks as well. I can't do this. They're both too powerful. I can already feel myself wearing out. Just then, the ground below starts to shake. Azula goes flying up in the air and I see a flash of green come next to me. Toph.

"I'll keep Crazy off your tail," she says. "But you've gotta deal with the old hag." I nod and Toph shoots of to battle Azula. I try to breath and I see flashes of blue come closer to me. No. Not my students. They can't face Hama. If I can't, they-

"Katara!" I hear Onyx scream. He throws a dagger of water through the air and it catches Hama on the shoulder. She cries out in pain and I see Yin jump into action. She pulls a sphere of water from the pond and knocks Hama off her feet. The battle begins and Hama goes on the offensive. Io tries to jump toward Hama to attack, but she's knocked away by a wall of water. Hama locks eyes with me and smirks.  
"Oh, Katara," she says. "They're so cute. I'm sure you've taught them well." She puts her hand out and I see Io start to struggle. Yin, too. They're both under the control of Hama's bloodbending grip. "But not well enough." No. I throw a jet of water at her, but she blocks it. She throws the two of them around like little ragdolls and I try to knock Hama off her feet. I try to save them, but it's to no avail. No. I will not lose them. I can't. I move to strike again, but a fireball knocks me onto my back. Azula is still fighting Toph, but her goal is still clear. She wants me dead. No matter who she fights, she still has me in her sights. I look in horror as Hama turns back to the girls. She's about to deliver the final blow, when her body freezes. It's like someone just stopped her and she is just standing there, still, unable to move. I look behind her and I can see Onyx, in the bloodbending form, holding her in place. His eyes are filled with tears and he clenches tighter.

Yin and Io are released from the grip and Onyx walks closer to her, still holding his grip. Hama's face is one of sheer terror. I watch as the scene unfolds. I want to stop him, but I can see it in his eyes that he won't let me. No one can stop him. He pushes hard forward and she flies across the courtyard. She hits the wall and he smirks.

"You will never harm anyone again," he says, his voice filled with rage. "You won't have the chance." I see him raise his arm and I stand up. No. No. He can't do this. He can't finish her off. That's immoral. I know she was going to kill him, but he can't sink to her level.

"No!" I scream. Onyx turns to me and he lets her go. She falls to the ground and I watch as he steps back. Just then, a fireball hits the ground. Azula jumps down beside me and I move to defend myself. She kicks me in the stomach and I fly back. Onyx comes to help me, but she makes a wall of fire around us. I see her raise her hand to attack. No, no. This can't be how it ends. I have so many other things to live for. My mind flashes through images of what could have been. My own school for waterbending. Living in the Fire Nation. Zuko. Kids running around, bending water whips and fireballs at each other. Everything just plays in my mind and I can't help but wonder if it's finally over. I'm going to die.

"Oh, no you don't!" I hear a familiar voice yell. I column of rock shoots from the ground and Azula goes flying into the wall. Toph jumps into the fire dome and hushes it out with rock. She picks me up and I hug her. She pulls out something from her robe and hands it to me. Appa's bison whistle. "Call Appa," she says. "We'll keep em' busy." She shoots off to get Azula and I see my students keeping Hama in a corner. We can't fight them off. No matter how big of an army, Azula is too powerful. I blow on the whistle hard and put it in my robe pocket.  
Within the minute, I hear a roar and Appa rounds the side of the palace. I see Aang jump down and throw a blast of wind into Azula. I yell for my students. Yin and Io come running toward me, but Onyx stays in front of Hama. I call for him, but I get no response. I feel a hand grab mine. I turn to see Zuko.

"Are you alright," he asks. "I ran all over the palace looking for you. I was so worried that-"

"I'm fine," I say. "But I have to go get my student. I'll be right back." I run over to Onyx and he doesn't even look at me. He is too focused on the weak woman beneath him. He has a look of rage on his face. I can feel his heartbeat quicken, but not with fear; with determination. He raises his arm, and before I can stop him, he's already pulling it down. He slams his hand down and I see the blood leak from her eyeballs and her mouth. I feel for a heartbeat, a pulse, but there's nothing. She's dead. Onyx gives her a look of disgust and walks back to Appa. I look at Hama's corpse and I feel a tear come down my cheek. She may have been an evil witch, but this was no way to die.

"Katara," I hear Zuko say behind me. "We need to get out of here."

"We can't leave," I say back. "You have a country to run and I'll stay with you." I feel him put his hand on my shoulder.

"I have a council for a reason," he explains. "They know that I'm leaving already. Azula will follow us. She'll follow us anywhere." He has a point. It doesn't matter where we go. She'll always be one step ahead of us.

"Fine," I say. "But we need to make sure she follows. I won't leave these people to deal with her." Zuko nods and we run over to Appa. I look around for Azula and within the second, I find her. She is in a three way duel with Aang and Toph. I climb up into the saddle and pull an orb of water from the grass. I take aim and shoot the orb right at Azula. She catches sight of me and starts over toward Appa. Aang and Toph are on the saddle next to us within the minute and we start to fly. I turn around to look over the saddle and Azula is already tailing us. Okay, good. I couldn't live with myself if we had left her in the palace. She would have killed a lot of people.

I look around the saddle. Guru Pahtik and Aang are sitting next to Io and Yin on one side, Onyx is sitting alone on the other. Toph and Sokka are sitting up by Appa's head, and I'm sitting next to Zuko. The gang's all here. I lay my head on Zuko's chest and I feel his heartbeat start to quicken. He's probably worried about Aang seeing us. In a way, I am, too, but he already knows that I'm with someone. He just doesn't know who yet. I sit up from his chest. Maybe it's best to keep things from him for right now.

THE NEXT MORNING

I open my eyes to the roof of my tent. We are far up in a mountain range, in the middle of a forest. My body aches from the battle at the palace. I have a few burns and bruises that I have yet to heal. I get out of my tent and I see that the sun is just barely coming out. I decide to go exploring. Maybe there's a pond or something nearby where I can practice my bending.

I walk through the trees. It's very lush and natural here. It looks beautiful. I walk a little further and all of the sudden, I can hear blasts of fire being shot. My heart skyrockets and I hide behind some rocks. Oh no. No, no. This can't be happening. I look around the corner and run toward the sound. It can't be. It can't be. It can't-

I come to a clearing and I see Zuko, shirtless, shooting blasts of fire into the air. He looks hard at work, making precise blasts. I watch him intently, paying close attention to how his muscles flex every time he pushes a flame out. He's covered in sweat. I feel myself bite my lip and I move closer to get a better look. I'm almost to a better spot when I trip over a rock on the ground and fall flat on my face. Ouch.

"Who's there?" I hear Zuko scream in my direction. He can't see me. Oh, great. I stand up and walk out from the bushes.

"Calm yourself," I say. "It's just me." He looks at me with a smirk and flexes a little. I walk up to him and kiss him chastely on his lips. He steps back a little a shoots me a wink.

"What are you doing up so early," he asks me. "I thought waterbenders rose with the moon." I roll my eyes and step a few feet back.

"Only when they don't have a firebender like you to wake up to," I say. "The firebending lifestyle kind of rubs off. Now, let's get down to business." He gives me a confused look. I roll my eyes. "Come on, oh powerful Fire Lord," I taunt. "Let's go. You and me. One on one." I see his face go to one of humor.

"Oh, no," he says. "That's not going to happen."

"Why," I snap back. "Are you afraid of getting your ass handed to you by a girl?" He smirks at me and gets into a stance. Oh, he is going down. I laugh to myself. The sparring match begins and I can tell by the first shot that he's taking it easy on me. Oh, this will be fun. I shoot him back with a jet of water. He has a surprised look on his face.

"What was that for?"

"Did you really think I was going to take it easy on you," I say. "I thought Fire Lord's were supposed to be intelligent!" He laughs and the duel heats up a little, but only for a second. The blasts get powerful, but turn soft as we get closer. Our arms move the elements back and forth, but it's not in an attack. It doesn't even seem like a duel. The closeness between the two of us and the way that we are so delicately moving our elements seems more like a dance. The duel finally ends when he pushes me into the grass and lays on top of me.

"I win." he says, taunting me. I roll him over onto his back and I straddle him.

"No," I say. "I win." He pushes me back and we roll in the grass together. I'm laughing harder than I ever have before. It feels almost perfect, like this is how it's supposed to be. We stop rolling when we reach a boulder. I wrap my legs around him and we just look into each other's eyes. Gold to blue. Fire to water. Sun to moon.

"Fine," he says. "You win." With that, he crashes his lips onto mine. Our lips are in perfect harmony as we hold each other, laying in the emerald green grass. Our eyes are closed, but I still feel like I'm looking at him. He's so magnetic, pulling me closer and closer to him under the sun's luminous rays. We pull apart and look at each other.

"I love you." The words come out almost like a waterfall of emotions. It's everything I've wanted to say and more. He just looks at me for a second before pushing his lips against mine. We stay connected for a complete minute before he stops kissing me.

"You have no idea how long I've waited for you to say that to me," he says to me, his raspy tone turning more innocent. "I love you, too." We stare at each other, immersed in each other's eyes.

* * *

AZULA'S POV

I don't even have to ask where I am when I open my eyes. There is a deep black forest with dark purple creatures flying everywhere. The spirit world. This must be where the Dark Spirit originates from. It's a dump. I kick a tree branch and to my surprise, I hits me back. Ugh. I hate the fucking spirit world. Can I just go back to when she would come to me in the normal world. For the love of Agni.

"Princess Azula," I hear the Dark Spirit say in the distance. "You are one step closer to your task." I turn around to see her staring at me. The Dark Spirit. Her golden eyes stare at me, pulsing with contentment.

"How can that be," I say. "Katara escaped. Sure, I am on her trail, but I still failed."  
"Katara is but in your grasp soon," she replies. "She is traveling to a place known as the Pure Forest. It is protected by the spirits. I want you to go there and destroy it."

"But why there?" I question. "What's so important about this place?"

"As you know," she says. "A normal human going into the Spirit World is extremely rare, and only direct relatives of an Avatar have been known to do it on their own." I see the forest around us fade, but a small village take it's place. There are people in white robes walking around, pushing carts. The Dark Spirit points to a large building with a dragon statue in the front of it. "This is the Spirit Palace. The spirits placed this here when the village was first founded 103 years ago to connect people to the Spirit World."

"What does any of this have to do with Katara?"

"It doesn't, my child," she replies. "But there is another that you desire. By reaching this village, you will have the chance to destroy both."

"Who?" I am confused. I only desire the head of Katara. No one else is above her on my shit list. She needs to die. I will kill her. What doesn't this fucking spirit get? I'm not going to run any errands for her!

"Watch and see." The Dark Spirit brings me into what is labeled the prayer room. There is only a woman in the room. She has the hood of her white robe up. Her long, black hair is visible, but that is about it. Is this the person who the Dark Spirit thinks I desire? Surely, I have no need to attack a priestess before Katara. That is just ridiculous to-

No. The woman stands from the stone floor and turns around. I can now see her face. She pulls the hood of her cloak down and I can see her in full. No. This can't be. She is dead. I know her to be dead. How? Then it hits me. This place is protected by the Spirits. Oh, you sneaky bitch. I will find you. I will kill you. You will get what has been coming to you for years, you malevolent whore! You better run to your precious Zuzu, Mother. I am coming, and I won't stop until I see you burn.

* * *

**Bam! Ursa's location revealed! If you're confused at all, your questions will be answered in the next few chapters. **

**Please, review! :)**


	11. Chapter 10: Remembrance and Regret

**Author's Note: Okay, guys. Here's Chapter Ten. **

**This chapter will really dive deep into Azula's past with her mother and how she felt about her brother as a child.**

**Caution: Some adult themes that may not be suitable for younger readers. **

* * *

AZULA'S POV

_12 YEARS AGO_

_The sky is a bright orange. The sun is setting and I am running around the trees. My brother is chasing me, trying to catch up. We're playing a game called "tag". Uncle told Zuko about it and he just had to play it. Typical Zuzu, always wanting to play ancient games for fun. I'm going along with it simply because I was bored and wanted to play instead of being kept up in the palace training. I haven't even turned eight yet, and Father is already planning my war future. I run a little faster, dodging rocks and tree branches. _

_"You'll never catch up, Zuzu!" I yell back in a sing-song voice. He has always been slower than me, always running from behind; never from the front. I guess that's why Father doesn't want him training with me. He won't be able catch up to me as fast as Father would like, so I have to train by myself. I have to train with those of my level. Which, according to father, is no one. I am to train alone. My teachers show me the basics, and then let me prove my worth. Which I always do._

_"Slow down, Azula," Zuko calls from behind me. I turn my head as I'm running and I see that he's got a worried look on his face. I turn back around to see that I'm running out of room to run. I'm almost at a cliff's edge. I try to stop myself, and I end up falling onto my face and rolling to the edge. I try to grab something to hold me down, but there's nothing. Nothing at all. I try to use my firebending, but it only pushes me further toward the edge. I'm at the edge. I start to fall but something grabs me. I'm dangling off of the cliff. I look up to see Zuko, holding my arm, keeping me from falling. "I've got you!" he exclaims. I scream. I'm going to fall. I'm going to die. _

_"Zuko," I scream. "I'm slipping!" I could feel my hands moisten from the sweat. I take a deep breath to keep from crying. _

_"No," I hear Zuko yell. "You're not!" He yanks hard on my arm and I hear a blast of fire. I fly up onto the grassy cliff. I'm saved! I'm not dead! I pull my big brother into a hug and he hugs me back._

_"What's going on here," I hear a voice say. "What are you two doing the whole way out here?" We both turn to see our mother looking at us, worry on her face. _

_"I was just-" I start to say, but she picks Zuko off of the ground, leaving me to fall on my butt._

_"Don't you know that you could have fallen down off of that cliff," Mother interrupts me. "Whose idea was this?" She gives the both of us an angry look. I lift up my hand._

_"It was mine, mom," I say. "Uncle was telling us about that tag game and I convinced Zuko to play it with me. I ran too far and-" _

_"You could have gotten yourself killed, Azula!" she yells at me, cutting me off once again. "What possessed you to play out here? Of all of the perfectly safe places in the city to play, you pick here! And if that isn't bad enough, you drag your brother into it?" _

_"I'm sorry, mom," I try to reply. "I-" _

_"Where did you even learn about this place?" she snaps. "It's so dangerous! Do you realize what animals could be out here?" Now she's overreacting. We are literally five minutes from the palace, just outside of the volcano. _

_"Father told me about it," I say. "He told me that it could be fun to play out here." _

_"That sounds like something he would sat," she replies. "But why would you go along with it? You see how dangerous it is!"_

_"It's fun to me," I reply. "I-" _

_"That's because you're just like him," she spits back. "You're just like your father. I had hopes that maybe his monstrous view of things would skip you and Zuko." She looks at Zuko and then back to me. "It looks like it only skipped one you." She grabs Zuko's hand and starts to walk back to the palace. I follow from behind, trying not to cry. My own mother. She thinks I'm a monster._

* * *

PRESENT TIME

I walk along the path of the forest. The Dark Spirit has given me the coordinates to where the Pure Forest resides, but I must let Zuzu and his precious Katara bring the gem there first. I must let them exist there for a brief moment. Then I will attack. Then I will raise hellfire on that village and slay my mother.

I have tracked their bison down to this forest. We are about a day's fly from the Pure Forest's location, from what the Dark Spirit says. I walk down a path. I must find them. If I can find their camp, I will be able to track them down easier. I will be able to know when the arrive at the Pure Forest. I will be able to know when to pounce.

I make my way through a group of bushes and I find myself at the entrance of a cave. From where I stand, I can hear something inside. I make a small whistle and out comes, to my utter dismay, a rabbaroo and his children. I know from my animal studies classes as a child that the male rabbaroo looks after the children before they reach their second year of life. They're ugly little shits. Really, they're quite revolting. I watch the father look at me and scurry away, but not before guiding his children back into their cave. That father loves his children. Not like the mother. The mother is never around.

* * *

_12 YEARS AGO_

_"Daddy?" I am in a training session. My father has fired my teacher for not teaching me well enough, and has taken over completely. He has me shooting target after target. I take down all of the ones that he asks. _

_"I told you," my father replies. "You either call me Father or nothing at all." I nod. _

_"Father," I correct myself. "May I ask you a question?" He takes a second to think about how to answer before replying._

_"What about?" I take a second and kick my feet around, stalling before I can ask._

_"Does Mother hate me?" My father's eyes have a look of bewilderment on them. He's obviously shocked by my question._

_"Not to my knowledge, no," he says. _

_"Then why did she call me a monster yesterday?" I ask. "She said that I have your monstrous view of things." His eyes widen and he takes a stance at a training dummy. He takes it down within the second, making it burn wildly. _

_"I think your mother is jealous of your power," my father says. "You have advanced faster than any bender in our nation. Your mother cannot even bend. She has always envied those who could bend." He smirks. "So now that her daughter is a bending prodigy," he says. "She can't help but let her jealousy get the best of her." But, even so, how does that make me a monster? I'm so confused. Mother loves Zuko. She treats my brother like he does no wrong. She would never call my brother a monster. No, not ever._

_"Then why does she like Zuko," I ask, making my father's eyes narrow. "He's a bender, but she loves him." _

_"Your brother," he takes a second to contain himself before continuing. "Your brother is nothing but I sick joke of bending. It took him a year to learn how to create a flame. Your mother sees past his bending because she knows that he will never be good enough. She favors the weak." I nod. "Now," he says. "I don't want to hear any more of this. Take aim."A target comes in front of me and I get into my stance. Mother hates me for my power? She really doesn't want me because she's jealous. I shoot the target's center without a second thought. I take a deep breath. _

* * *

PRESENT TIME

The rabbaroo family hasn't left their cave in an hour. I try and try to sneak a glance inside, and every time I try, the father comes after me. I am forced to watch from a distance. The children, the little rabbaroos, are almost oblivious to the world. They don't know of bad things because when they saw me holding my fire in my hand, they didn't run away. They didn't look frightened. They are wise children. Their father taught them well.

I wonder where the mother is. She is obviously not with them, but where else could she be? Did she just run away from them or did she die? I can't imagine either would be easy for the little creatures to take, could it? It must have been hard for them to see their mother leave, whether in death or in abandonment. It must have crushed them.

* * *

_11 YEARS AGO_

_Mom's gone. Zuko's crying wakes me up. I don't know where she went. I don't know why. I push the thoughts of her out of my head. It's no surprise that she would leave me; she never loved me. What really gets me is that she left Zuko. I know that she never loved me, but she loved him. She made that known. How could she do that to him. I walk out of my bedroom. I have to find a way to make him feel better. I find his knife on the table and decide that maybe I should tease him to make him laugh. That's what father does. He says that you can always make someone feel better by making fun of them. He says that it makes them see their flaws and gives them the push to make themselves better. _

_"Give that back!" Zuko screams at me._

_"Who's gonna stop me," I ask. "Mom?" Ouch. That was mean. I shouldn't have said that. He grabs the knife and runs out of the room. I follow him, and watch him run into the courtyard. He finds my father at the turtle-duck pond. Father doesn't respond to his questions. He just walks away. I see Zuko curl up at the edge of the pond and start to cry. I walk over and sit down next to him. He's in tears. I go to say something, but I can't think of what to say. What do you say to someone who lost their mother? I know that biologically, she was my mother, too, but she never acted like a mother to me, so why should I give her that title. _

_"I'm sorry," I say. "I-" _

_"No, you're not!" Zuko screams at me. "You always hated her! You must be ecstatic that she's gone!" I look down at my feet and narrow my eyes._

_"I did love her, dumb dumb," I say quietly. "She's the one that didn't love me." _

_"Your such a liar," he snaps at me. "Mom loved us both! And now, sh-she's probably dead!" He bursts out into tears and runs away from the pond, leaving me to be on my own. I look at my reflection in the pond. I'm a monster. Mother thinks so, and so does Zuko. I know he does. If everyone thinks this, then it must be true. _

_9 YEARS AGO_

_My brother and I haven't spoke much in a few years. It's terrible, but I guess that's how that has to be. My brother, my poor brother. He has turned to Uncle ever since he returned from war. My Uncle, now older and gray-haired, has been acting something like a father to him. Mostly because Father doesn't want a thing to do with Zuko. _

_I am walking into the throne room when I see my father stepping down from his throne. He never leaves his throne unless completely necessary. Something must be wrong; very wrong. I run up to my father and bow._

_"Father," I say. "What has happened?" He turns to face me and narrows his eyes._

_"Your insufferable brother has decided to dishonor me in my own throne room," he says. "He must be taught a lesson." My eyes widen. No. No, no. That's why the Agni Kai stadium has been reopened. No. Zuzu. He's so stupid! Whatever he did, he doesn't deserve this. _

_"Father," I say. "I plead for you to see reason. We both know that he isn't the brightest teenager on the earth. He's only thirteen! Father, please-" _

_"Azula," he snaps. "Silence yourself." I do as he says. My father walks closer to me. I kneel before him. "Your brother is a worthless piece of flesh," he says sternly. "You will watch him fight for his life and enjoy it. Do I make myself clear?" _

_"But, Fa-" He smacks me across the face._

_"If you try to talk back to me one more time," he snaps. "I will burn that mouth shut. Do you hear me?" I nod, tears welling up in my eyes. "I have raised you to be the best and the best do not cry over something as trivial as the life of someone like your brother." He grabs my face. "You look so much like your mother," he says. "It sickens me. You will keep a smile on your face as I defeat him. If I see anything less, I will make you pay for it. Understood?" I nod and he walks out of the room , leaving me to sit and cry. _

_A Few Minutes Later - 9 YEARS AGO_

_I sit in the middle of the arena. I get looks from everyone, but that's because I'm the princess. They always look at me. Especially now, as an eleven year old girl. They all see me approaching teenage years and they all run with ideas of future marriage all of that. I'm only eleven. I can't think like that. I'm too young. _

_I watch as my only brother walks into the arena. He has discarded his shirt and only wears the ceremonial pants and vest. I see my father on the other end, his back to his son. I watch intently, waiting for the moment where Zuko wins. I know that he isn't as powerful as Father, but he needs to win. The way Father talked, he wanted Zuko to learn his lesson, but that could mean anything. If Zuko won, he could finally show Father that he means something, right? _

_"C'mon, Zuzu." I say quietly to myself. Uncle sits next to me, and General Zhao as well. Father absolutely adores General Zhao. I have no idea why, because from what I've seen he is a horrible person, but my father likes who my father likes. _

_The Agni Kai begins with the bell and I'm literally on the edge of my seat. I try to maintain a smile, as hard as I can, but it's slowly crinkling down. _

_"Please Father," Zuko says. "I only had the Fire Nation's best interest at heart. I'm sorry for speaking out of turn." He is kneeling before my father. He won't fight. Stupid Zuko! Get up at fight, dumb dumb! _

_"You will fight for your honor."_

_"I mean you no disrespect," Zuko begs. "I am your loyal son." No, Zuko! Get up! Fight. I struggle to keep a smile on my face. I struggle to keep my composure. My only sibling is about to be fried! I finally muster up the courage to do something, but a hand touches my knee. My uncle._

_"It is not your place." Uncle mouths to me. I sit up straight and take a deep breath. _

_"Rise and fight, Prince Zuko." My father's voice echoes through my ears. He's going to fight my brother. He is going to hurt him._

_"I won't fight you." _

_"You will learn respect and suffering will be your teacher." The room around me just goes silent and I can only feel one word come out of my grinning teeth. _

_No. _

_My ears are screaming with the sound of the flame coming from my father's fist. The sound of my brother's screams. No, no. This isn't happening. No._

_Zuzu._

_20 Minutes Later - 9 YEARS AGO_

_I run into the throne room. My thoughts are everywhere. I can't believe that I just witnessed my brother burning under my father's fire. My father is alone, on his throne. Everyone else has gone and it is just he and I, locking eyes. _

_"What are you doing here, Azula?" _  
_"How could you do that, father?" He stands up from his throne and a part of me quivers. Oh, no. I've spoken out. _

_"Your brother isn't dead," he says. "However unfortunate that may be. But he is banished. I have sent him to find the Avatar."_  
_"But the Avatar-" _

_"Exactly," he replies. "The Avatar hasn't been seen in 100 years. Zuko will never find him and if he does, I doubt that he will succeed in capturing him." He has been sent on a wild goose chase?_

_"You're evil," I scream, without thinking. "No wonder mom left. She never loved me, but that's because she hated you! Mom left because of y-" I can't get out the rest of my words because my father's hand is around my throat. No. He throws me against the wall of his throne and I scream out in pain. He walks over to me and kicks me in the stomach._

_"You little brat," he snaps. "You may be a prodigy, but that does not give you the ability of a free tongue. You're just like your mother." He kneels down to where I lay on the floor. "Fending for the weak. You have her beauty, as well." I see him get an evil look in his eye and I quiver. "That might actually work to my advantage." I see him lick his lips and I move to scream. I move to run away, but he pulls me back down to the floor._

_"Please, Father," I beg. "Please, don't. Father-" _

_"Don't call me Father," he says. "Call me Ozai. Your voice even sounds like hers when you have that fear in it." He pulls me up and puts his lips up to my ear. "Come, dear." he says. "You will learn to be obedient and watch your tongue." He covers my mouth and drags me to the door. "You will walk alongside me to my quarters,' he says. "Any running and I will make you a copy of your brother. Are we clear?" I nod with a whimper and we walk out of the throne room. _

_6 YEARS AGO_

_It has been three years since Zuzu's banishment. I am now a forming teenage girl. Father enjoys that. He thinks that I'm more of a woman. He says that I'm looking more and more like my mother with each day. It's horrible. I don't want to look like her. That bitch.. I would rather look like a decaying corpse than that abandoning whore. _

_I dress myself in my red travel robes. Father has instructed me to dress in these for my meeting with him. I have no idea why. Maybe he wants me to do something weird with it? Whatever it is, I have to go. I tie my hair up and walk over to the throne room. Something isn't right. Rumors have been going around of the Avatar's return. It has yet to be fully proven. That means Zuzu has a chance of returning home. It has been three years since I have seen his face. He hasn't even bothered to write. He hasn't even bothered to send anything to me. That isn't a breach of his banishment. He can still communicate with me. Under Fire Nation law, he can do so. _

_I walk into the throne room and I am face to face with my father. He looks at me with a dignified expression and I kneel before him. Whatever this is for, it must be important. _

_"I assume you have heard about the attack on the North Pole." I nod. I look up at him. "Admiral Zhao is dead," Father says. "The Avatar is alive and well. Zuko and Iroh were there, too, and betrayed our people." We lock eyes._

_"How does this involve me, Father?"_

_"Iroh is a traitor and your brother, Zuko, is a failure," he says. "I have a task for you." I look up at him with a smile. He is going to ask me to retrieve them. I will get to find Zuzu and push my father's fury. He betrayed his country. I do not care of my past sibling feelings toward him or Uncle. I will enact justice. I will enact fury. I will deliver them home to my father. _

* * *

PRESENT TIME

The rabbaroos haven't come out of the cave in three hours. I watch intently; waiting for them to come out for food or something. I don't know why, but I have a sudden interest in these little animals. I have a sudden interest in them. I look at how the children hide behind their father and I am reminded of the way that I hid behind my father. I am reminded of the way that I let myself be vulnerable to him.

I jump down from the tree branch where I maintained my watch. I land on my feet, as always. I look into the cave, trying to find the rabbaroos, but it's too dark. I light a flame in my palm and I walk into the cave. I reach what looks to be the nest and I hear a little whimper in the near distance. I turn to see one of the rabbaroo children huddling in the corner. It's father is huddling in front of it, hunched over; it's teeth bared.

The rabbaroo child tries to jump away, but the father attacks. I can't watch it. Flashbacks peck through my brain and I can't help but feel the trapped feeling that the little rabbaroo must be feeling. He won't stop. He's a father. He needs to love his child, not hurt it.

I shoot him in the back with a blast of fire and he falls to the side, dead. He deserved it. He deserved to die. No one hurts their child. That child was defenseless, and vulnerable. I back up a little, watching the little rabbaroo jump toward me. No, no. I am not going to be responsible for this little shit.

"I saved you," I say. "But I'm not going to have you on my ass." I turn around and walk out of the cave. When I get out into the open, the little rabbaroo hops behind me. I turn to face it and give it a harsh kick. It goes flying back into the cave and I start walking. Time to get back to business. Time to go back to finding that campsite. No matter what, I need to find them. I need to make it to the Pure Forest. I must get little Zuzu and his water whore to pay for what they've done to me. I must get my insufferable bitch of a mother to accept her death as I give it to her. I must finally enact my revenge.

* * *

KATARA'S POV

I am cooking dinner. The sun has just started to set and Aang is almost done with his bending practice. I have just finished up a lesson with my students and now, I feel the need to cook. After the war, when I first returned to the Southern Tribe, I didn't have to lift a finger. Between Aang and my village, everyone was waiting on me hand and foot. I hated it. I hated being treated like royalty. Sure, my dad was chief, but that didn't mean anything to me.

I have always liked to do my own cooking and cleaning, mostly because my brother can't really do any of those things. I have always had to do those things for him since our mother died and frankly, I enjoy it. It gives me a sense of purpose that I don't really understand, but I like. It makes me feel like I'm doing something to contribute to the world, even if it's just my family.

"Need some help?" I hear a familiar rasp say from behind me. I turn around to see Zuko coming to sit next to me. He does so and gives me a peck on the cheek. I stir the broth in the pot with my waterbending.

"Actually," I reply. "If you could make the flame a little bigger down there, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks." With a flick of his fingers, the flame rises, bringing the broth to a bigger boil. He puts his arm around my waist and kisses my neck.

"Anytime." I push him away, laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing," I shoot back, trying to mask my laughter. I just think that it's funny that he's so affectionate with me, but he's still the big bad Fire Lord with no emotions that handles an entire country of people.

"Spill it." he says, his voice serious. I roll my eyes and take a deep breath.

"I just wonder what your country would think of you," I taunt. "The big bad Fire Lord has a soft side?" My voice goes melodramatic. "You have to be joking! The Fire Lord can't have feelings!" I laugh really hard and I see him try to chuckle, but he's obviously emotionally wounded. Oh, great. I'm not even with him for a week and I've already fucked things up. "Sorry," I say. "Didn't mean to offend you."

"It's okay," he replies. "I just feel like affection and love make every relationship strong." He feds the fire a little with his hand. "My mom and dad never shows affection with one another. They were always either on opposite sides of the room or not in the same room at all unless we were making a public the smiles were on and they were forced back into married life."

"Couldn't they just get a separation agreement?"

"You see," he says, chuckling a bit. "People of royalty don't get separated. Sure, it would be better if they could, but they way that the council sees it is that you marry for life, but not for love. If you find love, okay. If not, well, then find someone to marry and bring an heir." I shake my head.

"That's wrong."  
"That's life," he replies quickly. "In a perfect world, we would all marry for love, but no one can be as lucky as we are."

"We're not married." I say.

"Not yet." My heart stops for a second. Yet? Does he want to marry me? No. Why would he want to marry me already. We only just started dating less than a week ago. I blush and stir the broth. It's finished. Oh, the perfect excuse to get out of this awkward moment.

"Can you go get Sokka and the rest of the group?" I ask. "The soup's done." Not even a second after I say that, Sokka is walking out of his tent and sitting beside me. Of course, he hears his name and a food in the same sentence and he automatically jumps.

"I'll go get them," he says. "I'll be right back."

"Okay."

"I love you." My eyes go wide as he kisses me on the cheek. I do not reply. I simply put some broth into the bowls and hand one off to Sokka. As the rest of the group finds their way to the pot, I give them each a bowl. Zuko comes last and I give him his bowl. I smile at him and he sits next to me. I love him, too, don't I? I do, but I'm not going to say it. Not yet. It's too early to say it.

Oh, for the love of the spirits. Why does love have to be so complicated?

* * *

**Author's Note: So, that's Chapter Ten! Azula's family issues and a little bit of Zutara fluff at the end. **

**Now, before you all rip my head off for what I did with Ozai as a pedophile, molester kind of thing, let me state my case.**

**Azula was deeply hurt by her mother leaving, and apparently went to her father. I just felt like there was an unnatural thing going on with how he was with her. She seemed to really love him in a sick way, but not just in the 'my father is a sociopath like me' kind of way. There was something else going on there, I know it. **

**As for Azula and how she saw Zuko, she actually looked up to him as a big brother. After she saw all of the attention that he got from their mother, she got a little jealous and started to dislike him for it, but she still loved him. After he was banished, she was convinced that he didn't love her anymore and started to hate him. It was only in Crossroads of Destiny that she actually started to care for him again, but only because he could help her. She actually started to trust him when he returned to the Fire Nation, but lost it all when he left to join the Avatar. She blamed herself and thus began the descent into madness. It was only given a rougher push by Mai and Ty Lee, and then finally by her father, the man who made her his property for years. He showed lack of want for her and she reacted by trying to be the best. She tried to show him that she was worth his time. It didn't work and she completely lost all sanity. **

**There's my defense! Anyways, please review this chapter. I've worked extremely hard on it and I'd love to have at least one or two reviews with some constructive criticism. I want to know what you guys think of how the story's going!**

**Thanks!**


	12. Chapter 11: Spirits

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey, readers. Sorry for the long gap between updates. I haven't abandoned this story. I've just had a crap-ton of homework and essays that it's taking me away from this story. Well, here's a short chapter for you guys. It's really short, but rest assured, the next few chapters will be much longer. **

**Hope you like this chapter! **

* * *

AANG'S POV  
I pull some camp equipment into my arms and jump into the saddle. Today's the day. We're close to the Pure Forest. I can feel the spiritual energy getting stronger and stronger as we've been traveling. Just as I'm about to finish, I stop in my tracks. Oh, crap. I completely forgot about the other reason that we're going to the forest in the first place. Airbenders. My people, saved from a full genocide. I smile and then turn to the group. I have to tell them. I can't believe that I almost forgot!

"Guys," I yell at them, jumping off of Appa's saddle. "I know this is sudden and all, but you're never going to guess what we're going to find when we-" I stop when I see that no one's paying attention to me. I walk over to Sokka, who's packing his small messenger-like bag. I scream his name, trying to get his attention. No response.

I look over to see Guru Pahtik staring at me. Thank the spirits!

"What's wrong with Sokka?" I ask. He remains silent for a moment, and then speaks with both surprise and sorrow.

"Aang," he says. "Look at yourself." I look down at my body and I gasp. I'm glowing blue all over, clothes and all. Monkey feathers. I'm in the Spirit World.

"How can you see me?" I ask, curiousity in my voice. No one has ever been able to see me before? How can he?

"It comes with the territory of being a Guru," he replies. "But, more importantly, you must find a way back into your body. In the meantime, I will make sure that no one loses their head over this."

"But-"  
"No buts," he cuts me off. "I cannot continue this conversation right now. It will look a little wierd to see me talking to someone that only I can see." I hear a crash and a scream. I look up to see Katara, looking over something in Appa's saddle. I walk over to the saddle and climb up, only to see my physical body. If it weren't for my eyes and tattoos glowing, I would probably appear dead. Katara has a look of horror on her face and Guru Pahtik rushes to her side.

"It's okay, Lady Katara," he says to her. "Aang has been transported to the Spirit World. He is with us right as we speak. You cannot see him, but I can." He waves over to me. I start to wave back, but then I realize how crazy he must look to the rest of the group.

"So he's not going through some Avatar-reincarnation thing?"

"Oh, heavens no," Pahtik replies. "He's just taking a short trip. It's a little unexpected, even for him, but we must make sure to keep his body safe until he returns to us." Katara nods and the rest of the group, now surrounding Appa from below, is anxious to hear what happened. Pahtik explains what happened to them all, and they calm down. I sit down and try to think of a possible solution. How can I return to my body? I try to take some deep breaths, but that fails. Ugh.

"Can I get some help here?" I ask loudly to no one. Surprisingly, I see a blue glow in the distance. I stand up and walk toward it, trying to get a closer look. As I get closer, I can make out that it's a person. Good, good. It's a woman, with white hair pulled into a bun and a long, flowing robe. As I look more intently, I can see that she's an air nomad, based on her tattoos and necklaces. A grin approaches my face and I walk up to her, smiling.

"Hello, Avatar Aang," she says, her voice both deep and light at the same time. "My name is Hava Lee. I requested your presence here." I gulp a little. Okay, she needs me for something. Spirit adventure, here I come. Oh, great.

"What can I help you with?" I ask. She laughs a little to herself and smiles.

"Young Avatar," she says. "It is I who is here to assist you." She extends her arm out, gesturing me to take it. I touch her hand and with a bright flash of light, we are in a barren wasteland. Trees are nothing but scarps of dried bark and grass is almost ground to dirt.

I look around the land and I feel empty, almost dead. It's then when I see bodies, by the thousands, thrown apart. They look almost imploded, their organs and skin dried up, leaving their bones to poke and proad out like spikes.

"Where are we?" I ask. Hava Lee looks at me and then to the ground.

"This is the Land of Lost Souls, young Avatar," she explains. "It is home to one of the most cruel, evil spirits to exist." I gulp. Oh, no. Why can't it just be a land of rainbows of daisies instead of this place. It's always evil and destruction. What ever happened to good old peace and tranquility.

"Who is it?"

"Oh," she answers. "No one knows her name, but those who know of her call her the Dark Spirit. What we do know about her is that this is her feeding ground. She devours the souls of fallen warriors and casts their spiritual shells across the land." I feel my stomach start to tense up.

"That's horrible." She nods and looks out into the distance. I decide to ask the question that is already answered in my mind. "Is she the one who we have to protect the Pure Forest from?" Hava Lee looks at me and then back to the wasteland of bodies.

"It seems as such." she says, a sadness in her tone. I take a deep breath and turn to her, a determined look on my face. If I'm going to do this, I need all of the information that I can get.

"Tell me all that I need to know."

* * *

KATARA'S POV

Aang has been out for a few hours. We have yet to leave camp on Guru Pahtik's orders. Apparently, removing Aang's body from where his spirit left him would damage the connection and make it extremely hard to reconnect them when the time came. Spirits, I hate these adventures of his. I mean, I understand why he has to do them and all, but c'mon. We've been traveling so much that we have to be getting close to this Pure Forest. Of course it would happen here. Our luck, right? Oh, Yue, I sound like my brother right now.

"Katara," I hear a voice say to me. I turn to see Io, standing next to Yin. "It's our turn to watch Avatar Aang."

"Yeah," Io adds. "You could use a break." I smile and stand up from Aang's body. I could use a break. I've been watching him ever since he fell unconsious, so it's been a while. It wouldn't hurt to let the girls watch over him. I jump down from the saddle and walk over to a set of trees. A long walk sounds like a good idea. Good to clear my head. I'm about to walk out of camp when a familiar voice stops me.

"Where're you going?" Zuko asks, walking (more like running) over to me.

"Just on a walk," I say. "This stuff with Aang has really got my mind in a jumble. I just need a little time to myself to collect my thoughts." He nods, but lets out a wince.

"Do you really think it's a good idea to be going out there by yourself?" he asks. I scowl at him, making him anxious. "Not that you can't handle yourself or anything," he spits out, trying to find his words. "because you're completely capable of that. Um.. Umm.. What if you get attacked by a bear?"

"They don't just give me the title of Waterbending Master for nothing." I kiss him softly and walk out of camp.

* * *

AANG'S POV

Hava Lee tells me all she knows about the Dark Spirit, which is, surprisingly, in quantity. From what legend has said, the Dark Spirit is a demon that takes the form of an ancient cat-fish that preyed on creatures and humans alike in the early forests. The spirit herself is estimated to be as old as the world itself. She has a purple glow, which lets her sends monsters of her creation to torture and murder her prey. It's some pretty scary stuff.

"From what I've heard from other spirits," Hava Lee says. "She likes to use mortals to bring souls for her to eat. She apparently uses that mortal to slaughter people and send them to the spirit world."

"But what happens to the mortal after the souls are taken?"

"If the legend holds true," she responds. "They die." I nod. I don't even have an idea on how to defend this village. Even if there is a chance that I could help them, this spirit sounds too powerful to mess with. I look to Hava Lee and then over to a stack of corpses. I can't let this pile get any bigger. I have to defeat this spirit.

"I have to get back to my friends." I say, confidence in my voice. Hava Lee turns to me and smiles. It's not a happy smile, but a sad one. She knows that it's a fool's choice to try to fight this spirit, but she accepts that it's my duty as the Avatar. I have to defend the innocent. I have to.

There's a bright flash of light and within seconds, I'm back in my body, laying on Appa's saddle. I hear a scream and I see one of Katara's students, Io, looking at me in surprise.

"I'm so sorry I scared you." She brushes herself off.

"It's okay," she replies. "I'm not hurt or anything." I smile and nod.

"Is everyone ready to leave?" I ask. "We need to get to the forest soon." I sit up and look around camp. Everyone's asleep around the fire. Everyone except Katara, who's nowhere to be found. "Where's-"

"She went on a walk a little bit ago," Io replies. "Yin and I took over watching you after the first few hours Katara spent." Wow. Hours? Was I even in the Spirit World that long?

"How long has she been gone?"

"An hour or so, I think." I nod and jump down from the saddle.

"I'm going to go looking for her," I say to her. "Wake everyone. We'll leave when I get back." Io nods and start off into the forest. Where could she have gone? She couldn't have gone too far. She would have been gone longer if that was the case. Oh, Katara. Where are you?

* * *

KATARA'S POV

There's no trail. The forest is just a wandering pack of trees, pushed in a closed area. I hop over large, overgrown roots and under low branches. It's almost as if this forest has never been touched, ever. I like it. It's got a natural feeling that just resonates with me. I wonder if Aang has woken yet. If he has, well, I'll find out when I get back to camp. I turn around too look for my way back. Dammit. I' m lost. I walk a little more and all of the sudden, something moves from under me. I jump a little and run away, further into the trees. I've never seen a forest like this, so I have no idea what could possibly be lurking within these trees. I look around at the plants and I realize that I have more than enough water supply if needed. It'd be a shame to hurt any of these plants, but if I have to, I will. There has to be a way to find my way back to camp. There just has to.

"Zuko!" I call out. "Toph! Sokka! Io!" I continue down the list, slowly repeating the names in a random order. I doubt that they'll be able to hear me, but hey, it's worth a try.

I walk a few steps forward and just then, I see something purple far in front of me, coming closer. As it get's closer, I can see that there are two of them. They look to be almost like snakes, flying in the air. I've never seen anything like it before. I can hear them hissing, coming closer and closer. I throw up a wall of water and freeze it to ice. I run back, hoping to get away from whatever animals are coming after me.

As I run, I turn to see if they're following and, of course, they are. They just went right through the wall. They didn't even break it, either, which was strangest of all. I turn back to where I'm running and right as I do so, I smack right into a low tree branch. Ouch. I stand up and move to run but the snakes tie themselves around my legs and pull me down. I scream for help, but as I expect, none comes. I try to grab a branch or something to hold on to, but nothing holds. I decide to slice at them with a whip of water. It collides with their glowing skin and they get off of me, hissing loudly. I stand up and prepare to fight. I can take these two, easily. No sooner than that, I hear a loud growl in the distance. Oh, crap. I get out of my stance and try to see where it came from. All of the sudden, a purple, cat-fish looking creature the size of two platypus bears stands before me, claws out - ready to rip me in half.

I scream. I can't fight this one on my own. Oh, no. I'm done for. The creature moves to attack, but a rock pillar shoots up, blocking it's way. Toph? I turn to see a surprising person jump down from the treetop.

"Aang," I yell in happiness. "You're awake!" I run up and hug him. "I was so worried about you."

"Uh, Katara," Aang says to me. "We've got something a little more pressing to deal with at the moment." I look up at the creature and gulp.

"Yeah," I say. "Good point." I get into a battle stance, but Aang stands perfectly idle. He doesn't move. He just watches the creature in wonder.

"The Dark Spirit." is all that he manages to say before the creature swats him like a tiger-fly. I bring up a section of water and run at the creature. I start slicing at it, trying to break it down, but it isn't working. The slices don't even make a mark on the glowing skin of this creature.

"Aang!" I scream. "I could use a little help here." No sooner do I say that, does he come. But this time, he fights. He goes into the Avatar State for a brief moment and then sends the creature flying back into the trees. He grabs me and we fly up into the air, surrounded by a ball of air.

We make it back to camp in one piece, but when we get there, everyone is already waiting for us on Appa. I guess they got the memo about this crazy forest and I didn't. That would be my luck. Aang lifts me into the saddle and with a "yip-yip", we're in the air.

Zuko immediately scooches over to me. The look on his face nearly screams that he was worried about me.

"Are you okay," he asks. "Io said that Aang went to go find you in the forest. What happened?" I look over to Aang and he is steering Appa. I decide to just tell Zuko in full what happened, but everyone else wants to listen, too. I understand, though. I mean, who wouldn't want to listen to a "battle story"? I tell everyone what happened and right after I finish, Aang speaks.

"Those weren't animals," he says, his voice in a deadpan tone. "They were dark spirits." He takes a deep breath. "And that big one, she's the head. They call her the Dark Spirit."

"They must have taken forever to make up that name," Sokka chimes in. "Seriously, though. Why would this Dark Spirit be attacking Katara anyway? She didn't do anything to it?" Aang exhales hard.

"I don't know why she attacked Katara," he replies. "But what I do know is that her presence signifies that we're close to the Pure Forest. Real close." I'm about to put my two words in, but right as I open my mouth to speak, a rumble is heard close by. I sit up in the saddle and I see a tornado coming at us fast. We all scream, well, except for Toph, who couldn't see it. But, she eventually starts screaming along with us when we get even louder. Two other tornados come at other ends, cornering us in the air. Appa let's out a groan as we're thrown out of the air and back into the thick forest. This time, though, we're not in a thickly wooded area. We are in the beginnng of a large clearing. I stand up from the ground, shaking all kinds of grass and dirt out of my hair. Once everyone's up, including Appa, I look around for a good spot to set camp. Just as I walk a little bit forward, I'm thrown back by a blast of wind. I sit up to see six people, dressed in white robes. They look to be almost my age, maybe a little older. Three girls, three boys. I turn my head as I hear Aang gasp.

"Aang," I ask. "What's going on?"

"We're here." he says. He steps forward and bows to the people in white. "This is the Pure Forest."

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**AUTHOR'S NOTE: That's chapter 11! Hope you enjoyed it! The next chapter will be up in a few days to a week. Sorry, again, for the delay! **

**Reviews would be very appreciated, please :)**


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